My Dearest Eliza
by Cabeswater's Assassin
Summary: You may think you know the story. The 13 British colonies decided to revolt against the crown. They eventually win and America becomes a free country yadda, yadda, yadda The End. However, I have a different tale to tell. I've tweaked minor details, totally changed major details, flipped the timeline on its head, and added a pinch of magic to keep things interesting. Shall we begin?
1. Prologue: In which the stage is set

**This is the story formerly titled, Heir of Ash and Fire but it underwent a major make-over because I accidentally deleted the whole thing and I thought I'd start fresh. This story is inspired by the My Lady Jane books by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (they were the ones that came up with E****_d_****ians and inspired me to use seers) and you should really check out their books. Well, here we go. This chapter will be really short because it's just a Prologue.**

You may think you know the story. It goes like this, the 13 British Colonies decide that they want their independence and go about staging a revolution. The Army is led by General George Washington, yadda, yadda, yadda, The Battle of Yorktown, and to make a long story short, they win.

I however, have a different tale to tell.

Pay close Attention, and you'll see that I've taken minor details and built upon them, completely changed some major details, created things that didn't really happen just to enhance the plot and flipped the time-line on its head. Some names have been changed to "protect the innocent" (or the not-so-innocent or simply because I thought the name was too difficult to spell and wanted to make my life easier). And I've added an element of magic because let's face it, stories are always better if they contain magic. (Magic or murder. This one has both. Lucky you!) So in reality, anything could happen.

This is how I think the Revolutionary War should have gone.

It begins in England, (because that's how all really good stories have in common. They either begin or take place in England.) in the 17th century. A young man named Guy Fawkes had a plan to blow up Parliament. He ultimately failed, but when the Royal Guard's captured him, Mr. Fawkes set his Warehouse on fire. The police thought nothing of it, seeing as this was the guy (pun intended) who had tried to blow up the House of Commons. It was only when a witness claimed to have seen Fawkes set the warehouse on fire using his bare hands. That was when the panic really set in.

The police had been receiving many reports of criminals creating fire out of nowhere, but they were mostly from customers of Opium Dens so they couldn't really be trusted. It was only now, when a completely sober upstanding British citizen (Sir Robert "Bob" Blablah) and his completely faithful wife (Lady Charlotte "Lottie" Dah) came forward with their testimonies that the Police began to take these claims seriously.

They immediately questioned Mr. Fawkes, who revealed that there were many people like him, (ones capable of controlling and manipulating fire) living throughout Europe. Mr. Fawkes then proceeded to scorch the eyebrows off of the officer interrogating him. He was promptly burned at the stake. It was when he survived the stake-burning (which had been publicly attended) the world discovered that people like Mr. Fawkes were incapable of being burned at the stake. It was also where the public discovered that these people existed.

The result, chaos. The public christened these firebringers "Pyromaniacs", and they would be the target of a witch hunt for the next several years. The pyromaniac witch hunt was one of the more successful witch hunts in the history of witch hunts because Pyromaniacs were one, easily identifiable (They all bore a small flamed shape birthmark on their wrist) and two, they were easy to kill. Those of you particularly versed in Musical Theatre (or History I suppose) may have heard of a Punjab Lasso. For those of you who haven't, look it up. Have you done it? Good, let's continue. The Pyromaniac Hunters, (It was a very popular profession back then) would get close to their target, and throw the lasso around the neck when their back was turned. (You can expect how it meant from there) The Pyromaniac hunters were a cocky group, and decided that any one who wanted to hunt Pyromaniacs had to get a tattoo on their wrist. The tattoo was identical to the Pyromaniac birthmark, except that the flame had a large "X" through it. Like I said, cocky.

The Brits were no stranger to magic, seeing as they had just finished exterminating the Edians, (pronounced eth-ee-uhn for those unfamiliar with them. They're shapeshifters) and were about to discover seers (those capable of seeing ghosts) All in all, the Pyro hunt only lasted about 100 years, but the damage was irreversible. In fact, France had a whole revolution staged around overthrowing a Pyromaniac king. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This story starts in 1779. The remaining Edians in the world have fled to the Colonies. Pyromaniacs are running scared. Seers are trying to avoid the limelight. They were succeeding too. But that was the only thing that was about the only thing going right.

Enter a Edian, a pyromaniac, a seer, an assassin, and a writer, stage right.

**I hope you all enjoyed this. Stay safe from Corona guys. **


	2. 1: In which we meet our heroes

"Ummm so I went to Europe and I brought an apple, a baguette, a cat, a dog, an elephant, a….." John trailed off, trying to remember the next item in the list. The boys had been playing this stupid travel game for what felt like forever. Lafayette was the first one to forget the order of the list, and he was followed by Hercules, and Ben. Lafayette was almost positive that Ben had gotten out on purpose, but he couldn't be sure. The boys had been traveling on horseback for three days, and Lafayette was beginning to think they'd never reach the Schuyler Mansion.

" A frog!" John exclaimed suddenly remembering the next item. Alex cursed under his breath. They all did. The sooner John forgot a word the sooner they could entertain themselves in some other way. "A grasshopper, a hippopotamus…" John kept going, and Lafayette watched Ben roll his eyes. Lafayette stifled a laugh.

"Nightshade, an orange, a potted plant, a quill, a rake…"

Unconsciously, Lafayette fiddled with his shirt collar. It was uncomfortably high, and it made him nervous. He didn't like having things around his neck.

"HA!" Alex's shout echoed through the surrounding glen. "You forgot the teapot!"

"Oh thank god," Ben sighed. "That was getting tedious," He paused for a moment. "Yes, tedious is the right word to use in that context. Stop trying to pretend you know more than me. I was a teacher too." Alex and John exchanged a glance. None of them had said anything.

"Ummm pardon?" Lafayette asked the young spy master.

"Hmm?"

"None of us said anything."

"Oh. You didn't? I could have sworn Alex made a snide remark." Alex shook his head.

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh. Must have been the wind." Benjamin dismissed the subject with a wave of his hand. "How long until we get to the Mansion?"

"Not long." Alex replied. "Eliza said that her house was just outside of Albany."

"So, how long until we get to Albany?" Alex shrugged.

The boys were headed to the Schuyler Mansion, and from there Lafayette would head to Quebec to speak with the Natives. The goal was to persuade the Iroquois nation to fight on the side of the colonies in the war.

When Lafayette had asked Washington why he had to go, the General replied, "The Iroquois like the french. And fire" Lafayette had felt his heart stop.

"P-pardon?" He stuttered. Washington had smiled. The (Very Model of the Modern) Major General gestured to Lafayette's wrist.

"I noticed the birthmark." Lafayette cursed. He always took special care to wear long sleeves, or cover the small, flame shaped birthmark with makeup. Everyone in the world knew the classic sign of pyromania.

"How long have you known?" Lafayette croaked, frantically searching for an escape route.

"I've known for a while," Washington said, sitting down behind his desk. "Which is why I'm sending you to speak with the Iroquois nations. Try to get them to join our side. They do not fear your kind like the rest of the world does. Take Laurens, Hamilton, and Tallmadge with you. I've contacted Phillip Schuyler. He said you can stay with them."

Lafayette nodded. "Of course, General Washington."

"Good." Washington stood up and clapped Lafayette on the back. "You'll have today to pack and leave tomorrow. I'm counting on you son, good luck."

The memory of Washington's last words to him both haunted him and made him feel euphoric. Hercules, John, and Alex were singing an Irish drinking song, their husky, out of tune voices giving him a headache.

"Are you all daft?" Ben groaned, rubbing his temples. "The goal is not to draw attention to ourselves." Hercules sighed.

"Fine. Don't complain to me about being bored." Lafayette had only met Hercules the day they left. He had been a last minute edition to the expedition. Washington had come to see them off, bringing with him the Irish man. Alex had jumped off his horse, and gone to embrace the new comer. Apparently, they had been roommates in college. Washington had told them that Hercules would be joining them on their expedition, and then he had left. Just like that, not even acknowledging Ben, who had made a snide comment about the last minute edition.

That, by itself, was suspicious. And then, there was Hercules himself. He made Lafayette feel giddy, like he had just drank a lot of coffee. When Lafayette was away from the Irish immigrant, he felt like he had a hangover. Nausea, a headache, chills, sometimes he even threw up. He had first discovered this when he went out hunting, with Ben. As soon as they were far enough away that they couldn't see the small camp, the symptoms overtook him. He had stumbled through the underbrush, and as soon as he was away from Ben, he vomited. The symptoms went away as soon as he got back to camp.

The next day, he went out hunting with Hercules. The symptoms didn't happen until he and Hercules split up. They went away as soon as they were together again. Lafayette didn't know what was happening to him.

"Alexander!" A voice yelled. Alex stopped his horse.

"Eliza?" He called back, dismounting. "Eliza?" Suddenly, a brown haired, brown eyed woman came running down the hill.

"Alexander!" She yelled, waving. Alex smiled. This must be Eliza. Alexander began running towards the girl running down the hill. When they reached each other, they embraced, laughing. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming this way?" She laughed, out of breath.

'I wanted to surprise you. We're staying at your house." Eliza smiled.

"Father told me the Marquis was coming, but he didn't say anything about you," Alex shrugged.

"How far away from your house are we?" Eliza giggled.

"It's right up there," she said, pointing to the top of the hill. John gaped at Alexander.

"I thought you said it was just outside of Albany!" Eliza giggled again.

"We are just outside of Albany! You've obviously never been up here before. Albany is back there." She pointed behind. "You probably didn't notice it because you were out traveling down here." Ben glared at Alex.

"Well, it's lucky that we ran into your mademoiselle," Lafayette said, dismounting. "You very well saved our lives!" Grabbing his horse by the reins, he began to lead it up the hill. Ben did the same and began to follow him.

"Listen, Marquis," Ben began urgently. "I have to tell you something. You need to-" Ben was interrupted by a shout from down below them.

"Hey! Guys! Wait up!" John and Hercules were running clusmilty up the hill, dragging their horses behind them. Alex and Eliza were not far behind, laughing about something. Lafayette stopped, and Ben did too reluctantly. They waited for a bit, until the other four had caught up with them.

"I should go first," Eliza huffed, climbing up until she was leading the group. "I'll introduce you to my sisters. They may get scared if they see you and not me," Lafayette didn't really understand Eliza's logic, but complied anyway.

When they finally reached the top of the hill, they were created by two other young women.

"Angelica, go tell Father that the Marquis has arrived." The older of the two sighed. She had strawberry blonde hair, and brown eyes.

"Hello Alexander," she said, frowning before leaving to go tell her father of the troops arrival. The other girl, who had black hair and brown eyes, ran up to Alexander and embraced him.

"It's nice to see you again Hamilton!" she smiled. This must have been Peggy. The one Alex had written letters too. She was the one who had encouraged him to go after Eliza.

"Lay off, Peggy," Eliza pulled her away from Alexander, who turned scarlet. Luckily, before Alex could say anything he'd regret, Angelica returned.

"You can give your horses to the stable boys. My father will meet you in the foyer." She then entered the house again, bringing Peggy and Eliza with her. Alexander breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ummm Alex?" John asked, "Where's the stable?" Alexander shrugged.

"Great"

**Have a nice day and stay safe guys! **


	3. 2: In which we meet our heroines

"Where are they?" General Phillip Schulyer was standing with his daughters in the foyer, waiting for their guests to make their way into the house. Peggy and Eliza exchanged glances, and Angelica shook her head. "Well." General Schulyer said. "Angelica, go pack your trunks. Elizabeth, Margarita, go help her. She has to catch a boat to London tomorrow." Eliza would have been perfectly happy to stay and wait for Alexander, but there was no use arguing with her Father.

"Of course," Angelica said, nodding. "Come Peggy, Eliza." She started up the stairs. Peggy and Eliza had no choice but to follow.

"Do you want to want to take the cream gown or the peach one?" Peggy said, holding up the dresses in question.

"We cannot focus on dresses at a time like this," Angelica said, waving her hand at Peggy.

"A time like what? There is never a bad time for fashion," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"Fine. We'll pack and talk," Angelica said, pointing to the cream gown.

"What are we talking about?" Eliza said, searching Angelica's jewelry. "Are you taking the pearl necklace, cause if you're not-"

"We're talking about the fact that your boy-friend," she said the word 'boyfriend' like she was saying the word rat, "just showed up at our door, and you haven't told Father about him."

"But-"

"Does Hamilton plan to ask Father for permission to court you?"

"I don't-"

"Because I don't think that's a good idea. You should not marry so far below your station. What about Major Andre? He seemed polite."

Eliza really only wanted to know if Angelica was planning on taking her pearl necklace to London with her, and she had no intention of courting John Andre. Though he was handsome, he had a startlingly improper relationship with Peggy Shippen.

"Major Andre is probably having an affair with Peggy Shippen. Also, I'm free to have a relationship with whomever I please, you and Father can't control me. And are you taking these pearls? Because I want them and-"

"I'm not taking the pearls. You can have them. Peggy, why would I want to take the eggplant gown. It looks awful with my complexion." Peggy sighed and removed the offending garment from the trunks.

"But it's so soft and silky! I'm going to get it altered and wear it to dinner on Friday. Stephen will love it."

"Ooh! The eggplant gown would look stunning with your gold necklace!" Eliza said, gesturing to the jewelry around Peggy's neck.

"It would! And with my-" Angelica cut her off.

"Can we get back on track please? The point is, is Alexander planning on asking Father for his blessing?"

"I don't think so." Eliza said. "I don't think he'd do it without asking me first."

"Unless he wanted to surprise you." Peggy said, holding up a light green dress. Angelica shook her head.

"Point is Eliza, you need to ask him. And then if he says yes, you have to dissuade him. You cannot marry a bastard soldier from the middle of nowhere!"

"Angelica!" Peggy said, dropping both the orange dress she was holding and her jaw. "Language!"

"I don't want to take the orange dress Peggy. It doesn't fit me. Eliza, do you want it?"

Eliza nodded. "Can I go try it on?"

"Sure," Angelica said, sliding off the bed. She began to unbutton the buttons of the heather colored dress that Eliza was currently wearing.

"Angelica, are you taking your yellow dress with daisies on it?" Angelica nodded.

"There." Angelica said buttoning the last button on the orange dress. "It looks nice on you. You should take it off before you jolt Hamilton." Eliza rolled her eyes.

"I'm not jolting him. How many times must I say it?"

"If you're not jolting him, then, how are you going to tell him about it?" Eliza felt her mouth go dry.

"What's it?" She croaked.

"You know, the cat thing?" It was Peggy's turn to sigh.

"She's not a cat. She's a snow leopard. You're the house cat. I'm a falcon. You're just calling her a cat because you're jealous you're the only one who's not vicious." She growled at the end like a cat, and clawed at the air. Angelica glared at Peggy.

"At least I'm the only one who can actually use their E_d_ian form! Eliza's too out of place, and you forget that you're not an actual bird and fly half the way to France before you remember again!"

"Well, at least I don't kill my sisters pet mice!"

"It wasn't a pet! It was just hanging out in the field!"

"I had just finished nursing it back to health! It was going to live free in the wild!"

"Oh please! It was going to get eaten anyway!"

The argument was interrupted by a shout from downstairs.

"Girls! Come quickly!" General Schuyler shouted from downstairs. The sisters raced down the stairs and arrived in the foyer.

It took Eliza a few moments to take in what was happening. Alex was talking with General Schulyer, his shirt covered with blood. One guy that Eliza didn't know examined one of the paintings in the foyer. He was not wearing a shirt. John and the Marquis were standing next to each other, both holding between them an unconscious guy that Eliza didn't know. He was wearing a shirt wrapped around his head. The shirt was soaked with blood.

"OH MY GOD"

Peggy screamed.


	4. 3: In which there is a development

Ben was completely, and totally unconscious. This fact would have worried him, but he was completely, and totally unconscious. The last thing he remembered before entering this state of complete and totally unconsciousness, was being hit, in the face by a horse. He didn't remember _whose _horse it was, he just knew that it was a horse.

Currently, Ben was being dragged through the halls of the Schuyler Mansion, with Hercules's bloody shirt tied around his head. He had been deposited in the nearest bedroom, (it was actually Peggy's, and she was having a minor panic attack about blood on her pillow) and when the doctor came to check on him, his diagnosis was two words.

"He's dead."

Wait- what? Ben wasn't dead, he couldn't be dead! He was too young to die. FAR too young!

Ben opened his eyes. and inhaled sharply. The first sound that greeted him upon his return to life was:

"HOLY SHIT-". The obscenity was then followed by a wide arrangement of screams, a "Do not swear there are ladies present!", the sound of a body hitting the floor, more screams, and "I'll go get some smelling salts."

Groaning, he squeezed his eyes shut again. "Keep it down, will you? My head is killing me."

"Sorry," A feminine voice said. "Peggy, get up. That faint was overly dramatic."

"It didn't even look real." Another female voice said.

"Well Dad believed me!" Another girl (Peggy?) said.

"You can come back General Schulyer!" The Marquis called. "Peggy was just faking it!"

Slowly, Ben opened his eyes. The room was dark, so dark, and the only thing he could see was Nathan's glowing form. The ghost of his dead best friend was frowning, concern etched on his transparent features.

"Are you okay?" He asked, the concern on his face transferring into his voice. Ben nodded.

"Um, Could you open the curtains?" Ben asked, wanting to see the rest of the room. "It's very dark in here." There was a moment of silence. "What?"

"Ben, the curtains are open."

What? No. No. No. Oh no. No no no no no. Nononononononono. Ben did not have words to express how he was feeling right now. So, he chose the most accurate.

When Ben was done "expressing himself", Nathan was standing there with his jaw hanging open. If you remember that Nathan was a soldier, who used to teach teenagers, you can imagine what kind of obscenities Ben had used to "express his feelings"

You can also imagine what it had done to the ladies in the room.

"Whoa." Peggy said. Her jaw was hanging lower than Nathan's. (Though Ben couldn't see it)

"Ladies… present….." General Schulyer croaked.

"Please, Daddy," Angelica sighed. "I've heard much worse."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Ben closed his eyes. The only thing different about having his eyes closed was that he couldn't see Nathan anymore.

"You got kicked in the head by a horse," Lafayette said, in an attempt to make Ben feel better. "It could have been much worse."

"Yeah, you could have ended up like me." Nathan said.

Ben supposed that he was right. Yet, this disability meant that the rest of his life would be practically worthless. He would have to quit the army. He wouldn't be able to teach again. He'd have to (shudder) move in with his parents again. Unless he got married. Ugh.

"Maybe it's just temporary?" Alex suggested. "My cousin got hit in the head once, and he regained his sight after a few days." (Alex was lying about the cousin)

"Maybe we should just leave you alone for a bit?" Eliza said. "Come one everyone"

Ben heard the sounds of people leaving the room.

"They're all gone." Nathan said.

"Good," Ben said. He opened his eyes. Nathan was sitting by the window, looking out at the Hudson River.

"Do you want to sleep?" Ben nodded. Nathan got up and drifted towards the bed. "Do you want me to read to you?" Ben nodded absentmindedly again.

Now would be a good time to describe Nathan to you, since he will be all you see from Ben's point of view for the remainder of the story. Nathn looked exactly like he did when he was alive (look it up) except for his neck. Nathan's neck was alway cocked at a rather odd angle, and he could rotate it 360 degrees. That always made Ben feel like he was going to throw up.

"Why is Peggy reading such scandalous books?" Nathan said, flipping through a book he was holding. Ben couldn't see the book, but he could see Nathan going through the motions of flipping through a book.

"What book is it?"

"Candidate by Voltaire. I read this is college!"

"So did I."

"Oh. I take it you don't want to read it again?" Ben shook his head.

"Just tell me what's happening outside."

"How can I do that?"

"Look out the window."

"Oh right." Nathan drifted over to what Ben assumed was the window. "General Schuyler's smoking a pipe," Nathan turned his head around the look at Ben. "Someone should tell him that that will kill him." Ben gagged. Usually he had the composer to keep himself from throwing up when Nathan did that, but he had just sustained a serious head injury. "Get the chamberpot."

"The what?"

"Chamberpot" Ben hissed.

"Oh!" Nathan said. He floated towards Ben, picked something up, and placed what he was holding on Ben's lap. Ben picked up the chamberpot, and held it under his chin. Nathan turned his head away. "I'm not good with vomit."

Ben threw up. When he was done, he handed the bowl to Nathan. Nathan took it, wrinkling his nose and sniffing disdainfully. Ben groaned and laid back against the pillow, closing his eyes.

"Good night Ben."

"Good night."

**Ok so, I know these first three chapters have been kind of slow, but I promise the next chapter will be more exciting. Stay safe, and make sure to check out When Paths Cross! **


	5. 4: In which someone runs away

"What does love feel like?" Lafayette said to Alexander. The two men were sitting in the stables, talking. They both had hay sticking to their breeches, but the Schuylers house was being cleaned and they weren't allowed in there. Lafayette was trying to ignore the nausea swirling around in his gut. Being away from Hercules was doing it to him. He had no logical explanation for it, except that he was in love. He had never felt love before, his marriage had been arranged. What they had now was the attraction that comes after two people have been intimate with each other, but he didn't know if it was love.

So he decided to ask an expert.

Alex cocked his head at him. "Don't you have a wife?"

"Arranged marriage Alexander. Some of us don't have the ability to choose who we spend the rest of our lives with." Alex nodded.

"Well, love is a hard feeling to define. It can feel like many different things."

"Can it be… feeling nauseous when the person's not around?" Alex contemplated this for a moment.

"That's oddly specific."

"I'm an odd person." Alex snorted.

"You've got that right. I supposed, yes?"

"Yes to what?"

"Yes to the nausea."

"Oh." So was he in love with Hercules? He had been attracted to the male sex before… This was complicated. He had the inexplicable urge to set something on fire. Well, it wasn't technically inexplicable because whenever he felt confused he liked to set things on fire. Exhibit A: his mother's favorite dress. Exhibit B: His arithmetic class room. The point is, he really wanted to burn some of the hay but he couldn't do that with Alex around.

So, he had to get rid of Alex.

"Look! Eliza!" he shouted, pointing up to the balcony outside of the room where Ben was recovering. A figure holding a book stood on the balcony, poised to use the book to hit a crow perched on the balcony railing. "You'd better go stop her before she commits murder!"

"Murder?" Alex looked at him, eyebrows raised. Then he noticed the crow. And the book. And the figure with the book.

Alex sped off in the direction of the house. Lafayette glanced back up and the balcony, but the figure was gone. Strange. He did not dwell on it however, taking it as a sign that the gods wanted him to burn some hay.

Who was he to deny the gods?

So, he made a big pile of hay in the center of the stable far away from any horses. He cracked his knuckles. Then, he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, which created a small plume of fire, the size of his hand. Then, flinging his hand forward he willed the plume of flame to transfer to the hay. It did.

Watching the hay burn had a cathartic effect on the young Frenchman. As the flames tried to climb higher he willed them down. As they tried to spread he kept them contained. It was a lot of work, but not the taxing kind. It was the kind of work that emptied your brain and made you relax.

He was in the process of this stress-burning when the door swung open. "I smelled smoke, if everything alright-" Lafayette turned. It was General Schulyer. Merde. He extinguished the flames, and as soon as he did he regretted it. If he hadn't done that he could have told the General that he was trying to stop the fire and the general would have been none the wiser. But by putting out the flames, he showed the General that he had control over them. Double merde.

"I- it's- it's not what it looks like."

"On the contrary, I think it's exactly what it looks like." The General said. The barn was quiet for a moment. Lafayette frantically scanned the barn for a way out, one that didn't involve hurting the General. He noticed a small window, by the hay loft. The Marquis de Lafayette generally acts on impulses, so he did not take time to think about how high above ground the window was.

He lunged towards the ladder to the hay loft. He climbed up it as fast as he could, which, considering his age, was slower than it should have been. He almost fell off (twice) but managed to make it up the ladder in one piece. He then ran to the window and jumped out of it. If he had stuck around for a bit longer, he might have noticed Hercules Mulligan whack the General on the back of his head with a wooden board. But he didn't.

So, he was falling out of a window. He suddenly looked down, and noticed the big pile of firewood he was about to fall on top of. Ouch. Deciding that his secret was already out, and that there was no point in hiding it any longer, the marquis set the wood on fire. It burned quickly enough, so instead of landing on hardwood, he landed in a pile of ashes and flames. That would have bothered any normal person considerably more than the wood, but he was not a normal person. He extinguished the flames and climbed out of the ashes. He then took a self inventory.

His clothes seemed to have survived, but he could feel a tingling sensation on top of his head. He ripped off the wig, which was covered in soot, and noticed the roach crawling on it. He let out an unmanly screech and threw the ruined hairpiece to the ground. He ran his hands through his fiery red hair repeatedly, stopping when he noticed Hercules rounding the corner.

_Merde. _"If you let me leave I promise I won't hurt you!" He said, stepping away from the incriminating pile of ashes.

"What if you help you?" Hercules smiled, tossing something at the Frenchman. He caught it, and noticed it was a satchel.

"What are you doing?" he said, pulling the bag over his head.

"I told you," Hercules said, "Helping." He began to walk towards the woods. Not having any other choice, Lafayette followed.

"Why?"

"Because, I like you." Hercules smiled. "And I don't want to see you die." He was fidgeting with a bright green pendant he wore on his neck. The giddy feeling was back.

"I don't want to see me die either."

"Then let's go." He took off running. Lafayette followed suit.

The Marquis de Lafayette generally acted on impulse. If he hadn't been high on adrenaline and if he had taken a little time to ignore his impulses, he would have noticed that the green stone around Hercules next was copper, which acted like a drug for pyromaniacs. Giddy feelings when they were exposed, and withdrawal when they weren't. (Coincidence? I think not.) He would have also noticed the mark on Hercules's wrist. A flame with an "X" through it. He also would have noticed the rope hanging out of Hercules satchel. All classics markings of a Hunter.

But like I said, impulses.

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Make sure to check out ****_When Paths Cross_****, the collab fic I'm helping to write. Stay safe everyone. **


	6. 5: In which someone takes a chance

**I just noticed there was a problem, and I uploaded chapter one twice. I updated it, and chapter 2 should be available to read now. If you haven't already you need to go back and read it, or else this chapter won't make much sense. **

Eliza was sitting on her window seat,, reading. She wasn't reading a book however, she was rereading letters. Letters addressed to her. From Alexander. And she wasn't even reading the whole letter, she was just reading the beginning. In the beginning of their letter exchange, he addressed her formally. _Dear Lady Elizabeth Schulyer. _As their romance continued, it became more formal, _My Dear Elizabeth, _and now, when they were about to (possibly) enter a formal courtship, he began each letter with _My Dearest Eliza._ Reading that phrase over and over made her feel a certain sort of giddiness that is only felt by people who are in love.

She was reading these letters when the door flew open. She shoved them behind one of the pillows, praying she hadn't wrinkled the papers. "Eliza?" It was Alex.

"Yes?" she said, looking up. She tried not to look too suspicious.

"Were you in Ben's room a moment ago?" _Peggy's room. _She mentally corrected him.

"No," she shook her head. She had not been in the injured man's room, even though she wanted to, desperately. She had aspirations of being a nurse, and had volunteered to go help her Aunt inoculate the soldiers against smallpox. That made her feel useful, but the feeling faded after a while. She wanted to be an indispensable part of the war effort.

But that wasn't happening.

"Why?" she asked Alex, rubbing his chin.

"I thought I saw someone on Ben's balcony… the Marquis said it was you…"

He turned to look out the window. Eliza looked with him. She gasped. The barn was on fire. While, not the actual barn. The fire wood was on fire.

"Is there… a person in there?" she asked, squinting at the flames. I looked like someone was lying on the ground in the middle of the fire. It was probably just a log. Except-

"Didn't you say the Marquis was with you in the barn?"

"Oh no." Alex cursed, and ran out of the room, and down the stairs. Eliza followed him (though she was a little slower because she was wearing a dress. And a corset. And high heels.) It only took them a few minutes to reach the ground floor and make their way over to the barn. When they got there, they both stopped, panting.

"Wasn't-" Eliza panted, loosening her corset because she had no aspirations to suffocate, society be damned. "Wasn't there a fire a moment ago?" Alex, who was not as out of breath as Eliza, shook his head.

"I thought so." he began to walk towards the side of the barn, and Eliza followed, still panting. The side of the barn where the firewood was kept was empty except for the ashes and-

"Oh my god," Alex cried, rushing towards the ashes. A moment later he turned back to her, holding the Marquis's wig. It was mostly intact, but the edges were a bit singed.

"He- he must have made it out!" she said, her voice wavering. "Is there anything else?" Alex shook his head. "Are you sure?" he walked over to the ashes, hoping that there was something Alex had missed. Nothing. Her legs felt weak. She put her hands on Alex's back and led him away from the ashes.

"He's probably not dead Alex," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "We would have found a body… there's no way it could burn that quickly."

"What else could it be?" Alex said, pulling away.

"Let's check the inside of the barn." she said, grabbing his hand. "He might be in there." They made their way to the front of the barn in silence. The rest of the barn didn't look like it had been affected by the fire. _Thank goodness for that_ she told herself, squeezing Alex's hand tightly. When they reached the front, she dropped Alex's hand.

"Father!" she exclaimed, rushing to where her father lay unconscious on the ground. He was sprawled out on the barn floor, limbs angled in an awkward position. Trying not to panic, she took his pulse. She let out a sigh of relief when she felt the steady _thump thump _of his heart beat. Then, she shook him, gently.

"Father?" she shook him again. "Father?"

"Is he alright?" Alex said, crouching down beside her. She had forgotten that he was there.

"Go to the house and get help." she told him. "Make sure to bring some smelling salts back with you." Alex nodded, before speeding off towards the house. "This day could not get any worse." she muttered to herself. And of course, as soon as she said it, the day did.

"Elizabeth?" her father croaked. He slowly sat up, clutching his head.

"Father!" she breathed a sigh of relief. "What happened?"

"I don't know." he said, shaking his head. He grimaced and pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes. "Someone hit me on the back of the head. I didn't see them but-" Eliza frowned, noticing the wooden plank lying a few paces away from her father. She hadn't thought much of it before, but now…

"Father," she interrupted him. "Was the Marquis in here with you?" Her father scoffed.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes, it is dear. The Marquis-"

"Where was he when you got hit on the head? Was he anywhere near the wood pile?"

"No. What happened to the wood pile? Did he torch my wood pile? I swear-" Eliza frowned again. Her father wasn't making any sense. Perhaps he had obtained a head injury.

"Father," she said slowly, trying not to upset him. "The Marquis… the Marquis died. Well, at least we think he died. The wood pile burned down and we found his wig in the ashes, and based on that evidence we can only assume-" Her father let out a joyous laugh. He _laughed_. Like he had just heard the funniest joke in the universe.

"I don't find this funny." she said, pursing her lips.

"My dear girl," her father said. "The Marquis perishing in a fire is just about as likely as me dying in childbirth!" Her father must have been injured. Or he must be in denial. There was no other way that what he had just said would make any sense. Unless…

She remembered a conversation with her family. They had been at the breakfast table. "_The attacks are getting worse," _Angelica had said from behind her newspaper. "_Three pyromaniacs were just publicly executed in France." _

"_At least they aren't being burned at the stake." _Peggy muttered, stabbing at her sausages. "_If they caught us they would burn us at the stake. That's a lot more painful than hanging." _

"_They can't burn Pyromaniacs at the stake."_ Angelica had shook her head. "_They're immune to fire."_

"Father," Eliza said cautiously. "Is the Marquis a pyromaniac?"

"That's right! I saw him with my own eyes. The door devil was so scared he fled… jumped out the window. He must have torched the wood pile to save himself."

"So, where is he?"

"He's on the run. He was probably scared that I was going to turn him in… little did he know." Eliza nodded, agreeing with him. Her father was also an E_d_ian, and would never turn in another person gifted with magic.

"Well, we have to find him." She said, standing up.

"I'll send out Colonel Hamilton and his friend Laurens. They'll be able to find him." Eliza bit her tongue. She didn't know if John and Alex supported magic. She had never asked him, but now she sorely regretted it. She was about to voice these fears to her father, when Alex, Peggy, and John ran up. Peggy was clutching a bottle of smelling salts.

"Oh good!" Peggy smiled. "He's awake." She rushed to her father's side and grabbed his hand. "Let's get you inside." Using his daughters as a support, Eliza's father stood up.

"What happened?" Alex asked, coming to stand with Eliza.

"He fell." Eliza said, shooting her father a glance. They wouldn't say anything more until the time was right. Then, doing her best to make herself seem somber, she said, "The Marquis… is most definitely dead."

"What?" John exclaimed, "You must be joking!" Alex shook his head. "He- he can't be." John shook his head. "You're lying." Alex left Eliza and went over to John.

"We'll head back to the house. You and Peggy can handle the General?" Peggy and Eliza nodded.  
"I don't need handling." The General said, stumbling. The two girls caught him.

"Come on Father, let's go." Eliza said. Peggy was silent.

"Why did you tell them The Marquis is dead?" her Father asked. Peggy stopped.

"He's not dead?"

"No," Eliza said. "He's a pyromaniac on the run. Father caught him doing fire-stuff and he fled." Peggy nodded.

"That makes sense. Go on." Peggy shot Eliza a look that said _you're explaining this all to me later. _Eliza had to stifle a laugh.

"I didn't tell the boys about the Marquis because we don't know if we can trust them. What if they were anti-magic? What would we do then?"

"They're not." Her father said.

"How do you know?" Her father began to say something when Angelica ran up.

"Father!" she exclaimed, grabbing him by the elbow and leading him away. "I heard about the Marquis! How awful. Have you seen the tailor? Mulligan, I think his name was. He's gone missing…" Eliza lost track of their conversation as they drifted further and further away.

Eliza went to follow but Peggy grabbed her hand. "Explain everything. Now."

"Alright," Eliza said. "So, Father must have interrupted the Marquis while he was doing some Pyromaniac stuff." She continued the explanation as the girls made their way back to the house.

Eliza was standing outside Peggy's room. She had asked to be the one to tell Major Tallmadge about the death. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to see a broken man break even more, and knocked. She heard a hushed voice come from the room. "Someone's hear. Shut up!" and then, louder, "Come in!" Eliza entered.

Major Tallmadge was sitting on his bed cross legged. He was staring out the window, and had his chamberpot in his lap. "Who is it?" he said to the window.

"Elizabeth Schulyer." she said, he turned to look at her. It was unnerving, having him look at you. It was like he was staring at you, but not staring at you at the same time.

"Ah yes. Eliza. Hello. How are you? You seem upset. What's wrong?" she shivered, thankful he couldn't see. This young man was… unnerving.

"It's the Marquis de Lafayette." she said, going to sit in the chair by his bed. His eyes followed her. She shivered again. "He's- he's dead." Major Tallmadge shot up, suddenly attentive. He scanned the room, like he was looking for something. She shivered again.

"He's not dead." Eliza jumped. Was he able to see through her lies?

"Yes, he is." she lied again. "He died in a fire."

"Ah ha!" The soldier looked at her, and he was smiling. "He's not dead. The Marquis dying in a fire is as likely as me dying-"

"In childbirth. Yes, I know." Did he know? How could he? He was looking out the window again.

"I wasn't going to say childbirth. Did you move?" She shook her head, and then realizing that he couldn't see her, answered him. "Oh." he said, turning back to face her.

"How long have you known he was a pyromaniac?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I don't know. Since we first met. I noticed the mark." he tapped his wrist. "When did you figure it out?"

"My father. He walked him on the Marquis doing… magic." He nodded.

"I see. I take it he's on the run? That would explain the fire a moment ago."

"How did you know about the fire?" she asked. Had someone already told him. The soldier went pale.

"Ah. Um…. I smelled the smoke. Cause my window's open." She turned to face the window. It was open.

"Oh," she said, raising an eyebrow. She didn't fully believe him but there was no other explanation. "Yes, he is on the run."

"Hmmmm." he said, rubbing his chin. Then, leaned forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. Or well, he tried. He missed, and fell off the bed. He swore, picked himself up, and climbed back on the bed. The whole process took a few minutes. Once he was full situated, he leaned towards her and grabbed her shoulders. This time he succeeded.

"_Where's Hercules?" _he whispered.

"I don't know." she whispered back. "Angelica said he was missing-" The soldier swore again. "What's wrong?" He swore again, and threw himself back onto the pillows.

"Everything," he said. "_Everything. _EVERYTHING." He screamed and curled up into a ball, with his head on his knees. Eliza was beginning to wonder if she was in the presence of a crazy person. She had stood up and was about to leave when the soldier said something.

"Hercules is a magic hunter."

"What?" she stopped, her blood running cold. "How do you know?"

"I saw his mark." he whimpered. "I was about to tell the Marquis when…" He gestured to his head. "I didn't have time to tell him after." Eliza couldn't believe it. Had they been sheltering a hunter under this roof? Had he known that Eliza and her family were E_d_ians? Had he been planning to kill them?

"We need to find the Marquis," she said. He nodded. He didn't say anything else. "You should rest," she said, shutting the door. As soon as the door was shut, he heard him say something.

"Please don't say anything."

"I won't," she whispered back. She turned to go back to her room, but found Peggy standing in the hallway. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Maybe," Peggy said, walking with her. "We need to rescue the Marquis."

"What?" she said. "Are you crazy?"

"Not at all!" Peggy exclaimed, grabbing her hand. "We can steal some of the boys' clothes and sneak out! I can use my bird- vision to find them- and you can turn into a snow leopard and 'pow!'" she mimed punching something. "Plus, Father taught us how to sword-fight and you can shoot a crossbow. It'd be easy-as-pie!"

Eliza shook her head. The idea sounded crazy. And oddly appealing. Doing this would be making a difference. The Marquis was an important person in the revolution, and saving him would be instrumental. Perhaps if she pulled this off her Father would let her do something important.

"Who's clothes would we steal?" she asked, a smile creeping on her face.

"I knew you'd say that!" Peggy said, holding up a pile of clothes. "Which everyone of us isn't in animal form will hold the satchel."

Eliza nodded. "We'll meet in the garden at 10:00." Peggy nodded.

"Aye, aye!" They both went in their seperate directions.

Eliza was standing in the courtyard, waiting for Peggy. When her sister finally tip-toed up, Eliza did a double take. Her sister had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

Nothing else. "I didn't want to waste a pair of clothes," Peggy said. "Here." she handed Eliza the blanket and a falconer's glove. Eliza put the glove on.

"Okay," Peggy said, taking a deep breath. "Here we go." There was a flash of light, and a falcon stood. The falcon squaked and Eliza put a finger to her lips.

"Shhhh," she said, holding out her arm. Peggy flew onto it and hooked her talons in the leather. Eliza adjusted her coat and took a deep breath. She was about to pass the point of no return. No backward glances. Her games of make believe were at an end. Past the point of no return. One final question:

"Are you ready?" Peggy nodded (or, she nodded as much as a bird can nod).

"Me too." Eliza said, before she sped off into the night, with her sister on her arm.

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Just a side note (and I did not make this up) whenever and edian takes on their animal form, their clothes disappear and they don't come back when they reappear. That's why Peggy came out only in a blanket. I hope you all are staying safe, and make sure to check out When Paths Cross, the Hamilton author collab. All my fellow writers have been doing a great job. **


	7. 6: In which Ben feels left out

The room was dark. Well, technically everywhere was dark now. Anyway, the room was dark and empty. Except for two things; Nathan and the snakes. The snakes were everywhere and Ben was doing his best to ignore them. Which wasn't easy, seeing as one of them was crawling up his arm.

The hallucinations had started yesterday, while he was speaking with Elizabeth. It had been wolves then. He was currently in the parlor (? He thought it was the parlor. It was hard to be sure.) with Alex, John, and General Schulyer. They were discussing the disappearance of Elizabeth and Peggy. Or rather everyone else was discussing the disappearance of the girls and Ben was listening.

General Schulyer assumed that they had been kidnapped. Alex assumed that same. John wasn't really sure.

"But by whom?" John had said. "Who would want to kidnap them?" The General did not reply.

"The british, obviously," Alexander had said in a very matter-of-fact way. "They're trying to make General Schulyer surrender. Or spy for them. Or something along those lines."

"But if that were the case, wouldn't he have received a ransom note?" Alex shrugged.

"Maybe they didn't have time to write one." Of course. The british would obviously stage a very high-profile kidnapping and then forget to write a ransom note. That made so much sense. No, Ben had a different idea on what had happened.

"They went to try and rescue the Marquis," he said. He felt everyone's eyes suddenly upon him.

"What?" John said. Ben assumed that he shot Alex a look that said did-no-one-tell-him- that-Lafayette's-dead-and if-that's-the-case-I'm-not-doing-it (Which John did) and Alex stared back at him with a look that said why-do-I-have-to-do-it (Which Alex did) and then they had a staring contest to see who broke first. (They did). John must have broken first because the next thing Ben heard was:

"Umm. I know this may be hard to hear but the Marquis died yesterday. In a fire." Ben sighed.

"No he didn't." At this point, he assumed John shot a look at Alex that said a-little-help-here? and Alex responded with he's-in-denial-let's-try-again (which he did, and they did) This time Alex shared the bad news. Ben just shook his head again.

Finally, General Schulyer spoke. "They've gone to find him?" Ben nodded.

"Rescue him."

"Why does he need rescuing?" At this point, Ben assumed that Alex and John were looking at each other with looks that said what-the-heck-is-happening. (They were.)

"Because he's being pursued by a witch-hunter."

"What?" The General exclaimed. "Who?"

"Ummm, before we hear that all important piece of information, do you mind explaining what's going on?" Ben did not feel like explaining. Luckily, the General did that for him. He felt like running from the room, or possibly throttling the snake that was curled around Nathan's neck. The ghost was currently scanning what Ben assumed was the Schulyers bookshelf.

"The General sure has a lot of encyclopedias." Ben ignored him. The General has finished telling the story.

"Did Eliza tell you about The Marquis?" It took Ben a moment before he realized that The General was talking to him.

"Ummmm, no. I've actually known for a while. She told me about The Marquis leaving though." There was an awkward silence.

"Well…" Alex began, "I suppose we better go after them. They can't be out there on their own."

"Yes," John said. "We should." You may notice that our heroes are a bit sexist. I'd like you to remember that this was the 1700's, and it would be another 200 years before women began to be recognized as equals. This story will contain a lot of sexist ideals, (which will eventually be dis-proved, but still) so if that bothers you, you best turn back now.

"What time should we leave?" Ben asked. Everyone turned to look at him. (He couldn't see that, of course.)

"You're not going," Alex said.

"What? Why not?"

"Ummm, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"I don't know- three." Nathan held up three fingers.

"Lucky guess. How about now?" Nathan held up five fingers.

"Five."

"Okay, okay. You're just really good at guessing. You can't come because you can't see." Ben hoped that one of the imaginary snakes would bite Alex's head off. It did not. What was the point of having hallucinations if you can't make them do what you want?

"Just because I can't see doesn't mean I can't come!"

"Yes it does-"

"Calm down," John said, "We'll take a blind, no offense, vote. Everyone close your eyes. Well, Ben I guess you can keep yours open. Whatever." Ben closed his eyes.

"Okay," John said. "Say 'aye' if you think Ben should be able to come and help track down Elizabeth and Peggy." Ben said aye. So did Nathan.

"Okay," John said. "All opposed, say 'nay'. Nay."

"Nay."

"Nay." Ben's heart sunk. Carefully, he stood up. He had been listening to his companions voices and could triangulate where they were sitting.

He pointed to Alex. "F*ck you."

He pointed to John. "F*ck you."

He bowed at the General. "I'm truly sorry for my use of profanity Sir." With that he turned and left the room, tripping over the coffee table as he left. Nathan followed suit, and he gave the General the finger before tripping over the coffee table in solidarity.

Alex and John left that afternoon. Ben had not gone to see them off. In fact, he had only come down from his room for lunch, where the General had given him a "sorry you can't go on the mission gift".

A dog.

"Her name is Emile. Petting a dog can be a huge stress reliever, and you seem to be under a lot of stress." He mumbled a thank you and leant down to scratch Emile behind the ears. She licked his face.

It was lucky Nathan had opted to remain in the room. Death had made him paranoid, and he was especially scared of animals. Sometimes when a ghost encountered something it found unusually terrifying (like a squirrel) it became momentarily solid enough to be seen by any human, even non-seers. Nathan would not react well to Ben's new pet.

And he hadn't. At first. Nathan had screamed bloody murder and promptly thrown himself off the balcony. He had sat suspended in mid-air for about 10 minutes before finally coming back in the room.

Two minutes later, Nathan and Emile were best friends. (Apparently, dogs could see ghosts.) The three were reading (well, Nathan was reading while Ben and Emile listened) when a knock sounded at the door. Emile barked.

"Who is it?" The door opened.

"It's Angelica." The voice said.

"Aren't you supposed to be in England?"

"No, I decided to stay. I didn't feel right to leave when so much is happening. I take it you weren't allowed to go with them either?"

"No." He hadn't. He was thoroughly vexed about that. "What do you want?" He knew that he was being rude, but he wanted to get to the point. "What do you mean, either?"

"I asked to go with Alex and John. But they said no." She sounded thoroughly vexed as well.

"Yeah, well they have more of a reason for not letting you go. Your a-"

"Girl?" she asked indignantly. She huffed. "Well, at least I can see."

"Yeah well-"

"Well what? Is it because I don't have one of _those_?" She waved her hand at Ben's crotch. He couldn't see that obviously, but he saw Nathan cringe.

"One of what?" She told him. "Well… yes?" Angelica huffed again. She huffed a lot.

"You know what? I was going to ask you to come with me to find my sisters, but now-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," he said, holding out his hands in front of him and shaking his head. "What?"

"You heard me. I said I was going to ask you to come with me to-"

"I know. It was a rhetorical question." They glared at each other for a moment, which was rather impressive seeing as one of them was blind.

"I still want to come with you."

"Okay," she said. "Fine. But there have to be some conditions." Oh god. He grimaced.

"Like what?"

"Number 1:" she began. "I am in charge. While we are on our quest, you will treat me as your commanding officer." Oh god.

"Of course, Your Excellency." He bowed mockingly. She rolled her eyes and smiled, despite herself. She was grateful that he couldn't see.

"Number 2: We will sleep in separate tents, rent separate rooms, ride separate horses, bathe at separate times, do you get what I mean?" He nodded.

"However, we may draw more suspicion to ourselves if we rent separate rooms. If we stay in an inn we should rent one room and say we are husband and wife." She huffed.

"Fine. But you are sleeping on the floor." Great.

"Nope," he said. "You wish for me to treat you as I would treat my fellow soldier, I shall treat you as I would treat my fellow soldier. We will alternate on who gets to sleep in the bed." Angelica smiled again, though he couldn't see it.

"Fine." she said, trying (and failing) to sound indignant. Ben assumed she was pleased to be given no special treatment because she was female. That was good, because if she expected special treatment she had come to the wrong man.

Benjamin Tallmadge did not give special treatment. To anyone. Ever.

Angelica continued going through her conditions. None of them were too absurd. They were practical things like "there will be no 'fooling around' and if he expected that he could go and throw himself off a bridge" (her exact words), she would not "ditch her the first chance he got" (he had been planning on doing that. Damn.) and "they would have to use aliases at all times". Like he didn't know that. He was a _spy master _for god's sake!

After she was finished, he gave a few of his own. He would be able to take Emile with them, and she would not ditch _him _the first chance _she _got, (her response made it seem like she had been planning that exact thing.) After they had both agreed to each other's terms and sealed the deal, (They had both signed a piece of paper. Ben had to check with Nathan to make sure Angelica had actually signed. She had.) Angelica went to leave.

"Oh." she said. "There is one more thing." He waved his hand flippantly.

"Tell away."

"My sisters and I… are E_d_ians. We shapeshift." Oh. Ben had heard stories of E_d_ians. Humans who possessed the power to change into an animal at will. He had never believed them. Until now.

"Ah. I see." He nodded. "If we're making confessions, I supposed I have one too."

"What?" she asked. Ben looked over at Nathan, who seemed to have guessed what Ben was going to say and was shaking his head frantically.

"Don't do it!" Nathan grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and began to shake him. It would have been effective if he was not a ghost. "They'll send you to a madhouse!" Ben ignored him and looked up at Angelica.

"I see ghosts."

**I hope you are all safe and healthy. Remember that things will get better eventually. "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light"- J.K. Rowling. Happy Pride month everyone! **


	8. 7: In which our worst fears are true

Hercules was watching Lafayette sleep. Not in a creepy, stalker-ish way (but is there really anyway to watch someone sleep without it being creepy?) but in a I-have-nothing-else-to-look-at way. He was afraid that Lafayette would wake up and catch him staring, but the only way to make sure that Lafayette wasn't waking up was to keep staring at him. It was a vicious cycle.

Hercules reached over to his satchel to make sure the poison was still there. He had checked 6 times in the last 30 minutes, but he was afraid. The kind of fear that lives in your stomach and eats you alive. He couldn't hold out much longer. He was going to do it this morning.

The Marquis would wake up and Hercules would have a cup of coffee waiting. Lafayette had started a fire before he went to sleep, and it was blazing peacefully. Hercules would put the poison in the coffee, the Marquis would drink it, and then-

He shivered. He didn't like to think about what came next. If it went wrong, the consequences would be enormous. He'd either be killed by the state because they figured out his involvement in The Marquis's murder, or he'd be killed by his boss for failing to dispatch him. Either way, Hercules would be dead.

The sun was starting the rise. Hercules filled a pot with his water skin and set it over the flames. He added some sugar and the coffee ground before adding the finely ground powder. Hopefully the coffee would mask the poison's bitter taste.

This assignment was by far his hardest ever. He had killed before of course. Two pyromaniacs and several British soldiers. But he had never had such a personal connection to his victims. Not only was Lafayette his friend, he was very important to the rebel cause. If word of the murder managed to spread to the French generals they would most certainly draw their support. Nevertheless, it would have to be done.

Afterwards, he would flee the colonies, probably to Wales or back to Ireland. He was an Irish native, that's where he had first become involved with the Hunters. His parents had been killed in a fire. There had been a rogue pyromaniac wreaking havoc in their city, and, despite the warnings, his parents had gone out from a night about town. They had gone to a bar, and that was when the Pyromaniac struck. He had been left an orphan.

He had been young, and drunk on a wish for revenge, so joining a secret society was the perfect solution. He hadn't found the exact pyromaniac yet, but he knew what he was going to do when he found them.

"Hello." He would say, "My name is Hercules Mulligan. You killed my father. Prepare to die." (I know, I know, it's cliche and overused. But Inigo Montoya is an inspiration to young people seeking revenge everywhere.) And then, he would strangle the son of a-

Lafayette stirred. Hercules quickly looked away. "Good morning."

"Morning." Hercules grumbled back. "I made coffee." He poured some of the toxic mixture into a cup and handed it to Lafayette. His heart felt like it was going to pound out of his chest. Lafayette took it. Oh my god, he was going to throw up, throw up, he was going to faint, he was going to knock that stupid mug right out of the the Frenchmans hands, he was going to-

"Cheers, _mon ami. _Thank you for everything."

"Cheers."

**I was planning on just writing from Lafayette's, Eliza, and Ben's POV but I might alternate between Lafayette and Hercules, and Ben, Alex, and Washington. It fell like it would add to the story. **

**I know theses are stressful times, and if you're feeling overwhelmed, I suggesting listening to 'Til I Hear You Sing sung by Ramin Karimloo. The plot of Love Never Dies is totally messed up, but some of the songs are really good. Especially the one I just mentioned. **

**I hope you are all staying safe and healthy. **


	9. 8: In which someone dies

**This update was much faster than I anticipated. Your all going to hate me after this chapter but oh well. Everything will get worked out in the end. (Or will it? Dun, dun, dun)**

**Warning: this is one of my more graphic chapters (though it's really not that bad in my opinion. I just thought I'd warn you just in case)**

Gather round faithful readers, things are about to get real. I have completely ditched the history books, and am now blazing a new trail (pun intended) full of murder, intrigue, feminism, magic, love, injuries, and completely one-sided love.

At this point I bet that some of you are about ready to throw yourselves into your computer and wack that mug of coffee out of Lafayette's hands. Or rather, you would be if my writing was eloquent enough to actually make people feel things. Though some of you are probably comforting yourselves by remembering that our dear Marquis does not die until much, much later in his life I must remind you that the history books have been deleted from the equation.

So no one is safe. *Insert malicious laugh here*

In this chapter, you will find Eliza and Peggy navigating to woods searching for Lafayette and Hercules. However, they have gone in the wrong direction. The Marquis and Hercules went North East, and our sisters are going North. Oops. Alex, John, Ben, and Angelica are traveling to the North as well, but they have been traveling for considerably less time then the other two groups seeing that they left much later.

Now that the stage has been set, let's start with Peggy.

Peggy would have spotted the Marquis and Hercules, asleep on the floor, if the bird joy had not over taken her. The bird joy was exactly what Eliza had been afraid of.

"Peggy?" she called. "Peggy?" Eliza sighed. She had lost her sister. "Peggy?" An owl hooted in a nearby tree.

"Oh shut up." Eliza groaned. She was talking to animals. _Animals!_ Although, one never knew when a simple animal could be an e_d_ian in disguise. So perhaps talking to animals was not as foolish as one might imagine.

"Peggy?" There was a sudden crashing in the trees and her sister tumbled out. She squawked indignantly as if daring Eliza to make a comment. Eliza said nothing and simply tossed her sister some clothes. There was a flash of light and then her sister was back in human form, clutching the clothes to her chest.

"Look away!" Eliza rolled her eyes and turned around.

"Did you see anything?"

"Wait until I'm done." Eliza waited. "Ok." she turned back around. The pants were too large around the waist and the shirt hung off her shoulders. "What do I do about the pant-"

"Here." Eliza said digging around in her satchel and removing a sash. "Use this like a belt." Peggy nodded.

"Thanks."

"So, did you see anything?" Eliza already knew the answer.

"Umm no."

"You need to get the bird joy under control."

"I know, I know" She said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Eliza lied. She pulled off her boot and began to unbutton her shirt. "I'll go looking."

"Make sure no one sees you." Eliza rolled her eyes.

"I'm not an idiot. Drape the satchel and my sword over me after I've changed?" She took off the last of her undergarments and took a deep breath.

Her body filled with a rush of pure energy and she felt like he was going to float away. There was a blinding flash of light and he was standing on all fours, gazing up at her little sister.

The first time she had changed she had scared her father half to death. Not because his daughter had suddenly become a wild animal, but because he had no idea what wild animal she had become.

Up until one year ago, they simply referred to it as "the albino leopard" until some frenchman "discovered" the poor beast and took to calling it a snow leopard. The name stuck.

Eliza stalked through the woods, careful not to make too much noise. She was traveling west, though because he was a snow leopard, she didn't know it. She also didn't know how long she had been traveling before she heard the commotion.

Two raised voices. She couldn't make out what they were saying, or who they belonged to, but something to her to follow them. Of course, she had to turn first. Using her teeth, she managed to yank to satchel and rapier off her leopard form. She watched as it fell to the ground.

There was a flash of light and she was back in human form again. The wind nipped at her exposed skin, and she pulled on a pair of pants and a shirt as fast as humanly possible. She put everything else on whilst she was running. The voices were clearer now, and they sounded angry.

She unsheathed the rapiers and held it at her side as she ran repeating a mantra of "please don't trip" over and over in her head.

She could hear what the voices were saying.

"What 'ave you done?" There was a crash and then loud coughing followed by retching. "I trusted you!"

"It will all be over in a moment. I promise I'll fix it."

"'Ow could you do zis?" More retching. Eliza ran faster, as fast as her feet could carry her.

"I'm sorry. It's going to hurt but it's the only way to make sure that you don't have any injuries. I could have used my punjab but then you would be able to breathe."

"Isn't that the point?" Eliza knew who the voices belonged to now. Oh god, oh god she had failed. She ran faster, until her legs felt like they were about to fly out from under her. There was more coughing and retching and then nothing.

Eliza was too late. She arrived at the clearing a second too late. "Stay there." Hercules said, looking to the left of the Marquis's corpse. "I need to clean you off." Eliza felt like she was going to vomit. The Marquis was dead. Hercules had killed him. She tightened her grip on her rapier and stepped out of the bushes. Hercules turned around.

"Miss Schulyer. What are you doing here?"

"You son-of-a-gun." she whispered (Except she didn't say gun) , not caring that if her mother heard her she would have a heart attack. She was going to kill him. "You son-of-a-gun!" She raised her rapier and charged towards the murderer in front of her. Hercules flicked his wrist and there was a slight whistling.

"_Mademoiselle Schulyer! Your 'and at the level of your eye!" _As if by its own devices, her hand found its way in front of her face in enough time to grab the silver wire meant to snake around her neck. She dropped it and Hercules cursed. In his moment of distraction, she pounced.

"Move and you die." she hissed, holding the sword's blade to his neck. Hercules struggled for a bit, before giving up.

"I can explain. I have a way to-" he looked around and cursed. "He left. I told him not to leave! We need to find him. Can you clean off his body? Sitting in all the vomit can't be good for his skin."

Because she needed to find Peggy, and because he was probably right about needing to clean off the body, she momentarily took her sword away from her neck and angled to hilt above his head.

"Horrible dreams." she whispered, before she clonked him on the head.


	10. 9: In which we meet an important ally

**The last chapter was short and low-quality (I just wanted to get that part over with) and I return I have written a long chapter with (slightly) better quality. **

"Are we there yet?" Nathan whined.

"No," Ben responded. "Well, I don't know. You can see, why don't you tell me." Nathan just huffed.

"I can't tell." Ben rolled his eyes. Ben and Nathan were sharing a horse, a situation that worked for both of them. Ben was sitting in the saddle and Nathan was sitting right in front of him. They were both holding the reins, but Nathan was steering and Ben was basically just holding the reins for the sack of secrecy. A man riding a horse without his hands on the reins would fetch some unwanted attention.

"Can you see a big manor house? Has Angelica stopped? Shite Nathan, use your brain!" The ghost just huffed again.

"What are you yelling about?" Angelica questioned. She was riding in front of the boys (or at least that's where Ben assumed she was riding. It was hard to tell.) "Did the ghost say something stupid?" Angelica had been surprisingly receptive to the ideas that a) ghosts existed, b) Ben could see them, and c) there was one with them right now. He didn't know how well she was taking it on the inside, but she hadn't called him crazy (at least not to his face) yet and she hadn't sent him to an asylum. It was progress. (The last person he had told had looked at him like he was possessed and promptly passed it off as a simple joke.)

"Very stupid." Nathan glowered. Emile barked. The dog had been walking with them for the entire journey, possibly because Angelica was feeding her bacon and probably because she and Nathan had forged a very special bond. Apparently the little (or big. Or medium.) dog could see ghosts. Or at least sense them. Regardless of how it came about, Ben was not jealous at all. He was not upset that Nathan now had a new companion in the world of the living, (even if that companion was a dog) and he was _certainly _not upset about the fact that he had spent most of the journey talking to the dog and not him.

Readers, you may be thinking "well it's obvious he doesn't want to talk to you, every time he does you either ignore him or call him an idiot". You are very right. The fact is, that sometimes we don't realize how much we miss something until it's gone. That was what Ben was currency experiencing.

Or wasn't experiencing. Because Ben was not the least bit jealous.

The trio was currently heading to the manor house of one Mr. Joseph Destler, an old friend of the Schulyer family and a supporter of the Patriot's cause. Ben had met him multiple times, and he memorised the route to his house but he couldn't very well tell that to Angelica. Mr. Destler was a spy. He hoped that the older man would have enough sense to pretend that he had never seen the young major before, and if he didn't, well, Ben had been thinking of ways to explain their acquaintance ever since Angelica had mentioned where they were going. (His favorite was that Mr. Destler was his real father and that Ben was illegitimate but the most practical was that they had met at a tavern one night before the war.)

"Well," Angelica began "What did the ghost ask that was so stupid?"

"He wanted to know if we had arrived at Mr. Destler's mansion."

"We should be there soon," she said. Ben's stomach jolted as Nathan turned their horse to the left. A left turn. They were almost there. Unless they had turned left too early or too late. Ben had been putting a lot of faith in Angelica's navigation skills, but really didn't know how well he could trust them. It was blind faith, he realized, and Ben really didn't like being blind.

The horse stopped abruptly and Ben almost fell off. "We're here." Nathan said, facing the ground. Emile yipped excitedly. Ben gritted his teeth. Nathan dismounted, and offered his hand to Ben. "Do you need help?"

Even though it went against everything he stood for, Ben accepted and climbed off the horse. It was less graceful then Ben would have wished, and Angelica snorted. "Shut up." he murmured at her. Angelica looped his arm through hers and began to lead him to what he assumed was the front step of Mr. Destler's mansion. As they walked, Ben heard a growl from behind him. He turned to look, expecting to see Nathan reaching down to calm the small (he was pretty sure that Emile was a small dog now) animal but instead was greeted by a huge, white, menacing wolf. Ben jumped and looked away.

"Are you alright?" Angelica asked, sounding concencerned.

"Yes," he lied. "Yes, everything's fine." The hallucinations had ceased as soon as he left the Schulyer household, and had remained absent all while they were traveling. He had hope they were over with. It appeared he was mistaken. Angelica stopped walking and unhooked their arms. He heard the distant ring of a doorbell and footsteps from inside the house. A moment later the door opened.

""Ello." A voice said. "Is Mr. Destler expectin'ya?" The voice spoke with a very thick cockney accent, and if Ben didn't know any better, he'd say it was false. Annie, one of Mr. Destler's maids had formerly worked in a house of ill repute in the East End. He didn't know exactly how she had ended up an ocean away from her home and working in the mansion of some random rich guy, and when he had asked Mr. Destler about her, his response was very cryptic.

"She saved my life once. In return, I offered her a better one. She accepted." Ben had stopped asking after that.

"No," Angelica responded. "But I'm sure he will see us anyway."

"I don't know. 'E 'as other visitors at the moment. D'ya want me to speak with 'im?"

"Yes. That would be ideal."

"And who should I say is callin'?" Annie asked.

"Miss Angelica Schulyer, Major Benjamin Tallmadge, and a dog." Annie laughed.

"If Major Tallmadge 's with ya then come on in! 'M sure the boss will be 'appy to see 'him." Benjamin cringed. He might be forced to use the illegitimate son story. It would explain how the housemaid knew him, and why he kept it a secret. Angelica grabbed his arm and led him inside. He could feel her eyes on him, wondering how the housemaid knew of his existence and why his presence would mean that Mr. Destler would be more than happy to grant them shelter. He ignored them.

Even Nathan did not know of Mr. Destler's spying, and the ghost was eyeing him warily. He shot the ghost a look that he hoped said "I'll explain later". It most likely did, because Nathan stopped looking at him like he had just grown another head.

The house was alive with the sound of a violin. It was a low, melancholy tune and it made Ben feel like his heart was being ripped in two. Mr. Destler was a master musician, and his compositions were heartwrenching. His improv's were even more powerful.

"'E's composin'." Annie said. Ben could hear the smile on her face. "I'll go fetch 'im for ya." She left the four of them alone in the hallway. Angelica dropped Ben's arm.

"How do you know Mr. Destler and why didn't you mention it before?" she hissed. He didn't have an answer.

"I-" At that moment the violin music stopped, and Ben heard four pairs of feet enter the room. It was obviously Annie, Mr. Destler, and his guests. He dropped into a low bow upon their approach. Angelica gasped.

"Miss Schulyer, what a pleasant surprise!" Mr. Destler exclaimed, before sweeping Ben into a hug. "And nephew! What a glorious surprise. I wasn't expecting to see you so soon, I thought we had agreed that our visit would be next Thursday?" He let Ben go and the younger man stumbled back.

"I'm so sorry Uncle. But are you not happy to see me?"

"No, no. I am very happy. I have missed you. Come, I have a new painting I wanted to show you. I have not hung it yet, seeing as you arrived earlier than I expected, but I am sure we can do it together." He began to walk away, Ben heard his footsteps and did his best to follow. It was a slow process, and he was sure he looked drunk. Mr. Destler had a new message from their correspondent, and he needed to share it.

Except Ben couldn't see it. He had never had a panic attack before, but he was sure he was having one now. He stumbled, and walked right into one of Mr. Destler's visitors. "I'm so sorry, sir." Ben stuttered.

"Ben?" The voice said. Shite. It was John. Bloody John Laurens. Which meant that the other visitor was-

"You shouldn't be traveling so soon after your injury." Hamilton scolded. "And you brought Angelica with you. You've done stupid things Tallmadge, but never on this level-"

"You don't get to make my choices for me, Alex. I do what I want. So does Major Tallmadge."

"BUUUURN!" Nathan shouted. Emile howled along with him. Ben snorted. That snort sent him into a coughing fit. It felt like all the air was leaving the room.

"Mr. Destler-" he said, trying to sound composed and cool headed but instead sounding like he was about to burst into tears. "Could you please help me to the sitting room?" The older man rested his arm on the younger's shoulders and began to guide him towards one of the doors.

"I think the study would be better." The arguments between Angelica, Hamilton, and Laurens continued, with Nathan occasionally lending Angelica support. Not that it meant anything, seeing as he was invisible to all but Ben and Mr. Destler.

Destler let Ben sink down into one of the sofa's, before shutting the study door with a "bang."

"Your ghost friend is very vocal." Ben nodded. He had met Mr. Destler four years ago, just before he became the spymaster. He and his men had been out on patrol, when they had been attacked by the Queen's Rangers. None of them survived. The Queen's Rangers relaxed, assured that their enemies were dead. And they were, for a minute.

Ben woke up on the battlefield. We had been shot, and he was currently lying face down in the vile mix of mud and blood that coated the ground. A Ranger was walking around the battlefield, stabbing any man who showed signs of life with a bayonet. When the man had approached him, Ben struck.

He didn't remember exactly how he killed the ranger, or how he managed to steal the soldiers clothes without his comrades noticing. Only that he was only able to make it a few steps before the rangers figured out what was going on, and began to shoot at him. Only one of them succeeded.

He was wandering aimlessly through the forest, and he ran into several soldiers on the way. He would desperately ask them for help, but they would simply look at him and shake their heads. "Poor boy," one of them had said. "You'll end up like me soon enough. It would be easier to stop trying." He didn't realize they were ghosts until later.

It wasn't until hours later that he ran into another living person. Mr. Destler had been out for a midnight ride when he came upon the young captain. (He was a captain back then.) "God," he had said, sliding off his horse and removing his cloak. He wrapped it around Ben, who mumbled a "thank you". Mr. Destler had helped him onto the horse, and they had ridden back to his manor.

Ben didn't speak again until he had been tended to by the doctor. "Are you real?" he said, directing the remark at Mr. Destler. The man nodded. "Good," Ben had said. "In- in the woods I ran into some other people. They ignored me. Do you think they were hallucinations?" Mr. Destler had raised his eyebrows, and looked thoughtful for a moment, before breaking into a wide grin.

"No, they weren't hallucinations. Just dead." With that he left the room, leaving Ben to sleep. Destler was the one who explained the sight to Ben, and explained about ghosts. Ben didn't fully believe him, until he was sent back to camp. Camp was full of them, full of ghosts. He saw them, he even waved at one of them, just to see how the ghost reacted. The ghost waved back.

Heart pounding, Ben returned to his tent. As soon as he entered, he was attacked by a very familiar face. "Thank god!" Nathan's ghost had said. "I thought you were dead! I missed you- I know it doesn't mean much because you can't see or hear me- but I missed you." The ghost released Ben and stepped back, concern flickering across his translucent face.

"You're not walking through me like you normally do- is something wrong?" It was at that moment that Ben fully believed in the existence of ghosts. He hugged his friend back. (It was a very touching reunion, a few of the ghosts drifting outside of the tent shed ghostly tears. The living people who witnessed the scene just thought Ben was crazy. Most everyone who saw Ben interacting with Nathan thought he was crazy. Everyone except Mr. Destler)

Now, Ben was lounging on the study's sofa breathing raggedly. He heard Destler open a window and was grateful for the cold air that filled the room. They sat there, in silence while Ben collected himself. After a moment, Mr. Destler spoke again.

"What's wrong?" Ben could've lied and said it was nothing, but that was probably pointless. Mr. Destler wouldn't believe him, and he would be confused when Ben couldn't read the intelligence. Regretfully, he explained the situation. He was glad he couldn't see Mr. Destler's face, and therefore his reaction.

"And the doctor said he thinks your eyesight may return?" Ben nodded.

"In time. I wish I knew how long 'in time' is though." They sat in silence. Nathan drifted into the room and waved at Ben.

"Out." Mr. Destler said sternly. Nathan looked confused.

"He can see me?"

"He can hear you too." Destler replied. "Out." Nathan crossed his arms and drifted out again. "Annie!" A moment later the door opened.

"Yes sir?" Annie replied in her thick cockney.

"It's about time for supper, is it not? If our young guest can stop arguing long enough to speak with you- please ask them what they wish to eat for dinner, and have the cook prepare it. Also ask him to make some chicken broth and bring two bowls of it in here for Ben and myself."

"Of course sir." Annie said. Ben heard the door bang shut. Mr. Destler sighed.

"Now, shall we get down to business? Why are you here?" Ah. He knew this question was coming.

"It's complicated."

"It always is." They both sighed in unison.

"That was- that was quick thinking. Claiming that I was your nephew. Are you related to my mother or my father?"

"I hadn't put that much thought into it." Ben heard Mr. Destler stand and walk over to the door. "Your mother, I think." He opened it. "Rest for awhile, nephew. We can talk later." He left. A moment later, the house filled with the sweet music of a violin. Ben fell asleep.

He awoke hours later, feeling as though he hadn't slept a wink. He was sore all over, and the area on the pillow around his mouth was wet. Had he been drooling? He wiped his cheek. He had been drooling- oh god had anyone seen him? The answer to that question was yes.

"I brought you soup." Angelica said. "Your Uncle is just in the other room. He's been playing his violin for hours now- he's very good. Why didn't you tell me he was your Uncle. It seems like a rather odd thing to keep secret."

"He was… illegitimate. I didn't have much contact with him when I was younger. I didn't want to… over complicate things." Turns out he was able to use the illegitimate story. Or a version of it.

Angelica placed something warm into his hands. It felt like a bowl. She then handed him a spoon.

"Can you eat?" she asked.

"Of course I can eat."

"Then why don't you?"

"I'm not hungry," he lied. He could eat, it just wasn't very graceful. It often ended with him spilling a bit of soup on his shirt, and he didn't want to do that in front of Angelica. He would never hear the end of it.

If Angelica knew she was lying, she didn't say anything. "Well, I'm going to go walk your dog with Alex and John. They're insufferable, you know that? Insufferable! They keep going on about how we aren't capable of doing anything, just because you can't see and I'm female. And they act like being female is more of a handicap than being blind! I mean honestly, at least I have a working pair of eyes." He glared at her.

"Yes, you do have a 'working pair of eyes'. And I do not. A fact that everyone is so _happy _to REMIND ME OF!" He hadn't meant to shout, it had just happened. They sat in an awkward silence, the only other sounds being that of faint violin music.

"I'm sorry-" she began. He interrupted her.

"No, I am. I've been under a lot of stress and I snapped. But that's no excuse. It's not your fault. I just-"

"It's fine Ben," she said. "Really." He heard the door open. "But we're all under 'a lot of stress.' I suggest you learn how to handle it better." She left. He cursed. He considered smashing the bowl in his hands against the floor. He decided not to. He ate the soup. He debated on whether or not to request another bowl. He decided that one bowl would be enough. He changed his mind. He was about to shout for Annie when Nathan drifted through the door, looking haggard.

"Ben-" he said, sounding frantic. "Something's happened. Something bad."

"What? What's happened?" Had they been attacked? Was Alex or John injured? Was Angelica injured? Was-

"You should see for yourself. Come in." He called. Another ghost drifted into the room. Ben dropped his bowl.

"No," he said, not quite believing what he saw. "No no no no no no no no NO!" He grabbed one of the pillows of the couch and bit it. (It was a weird thing to do, but it helped)

"Is 'e alright?" The other ghost said.

"Give him a minute," Nathan said coldly. Ben took the pillow out of his mouth and looked at the other ghost for a long moment. He was shaking and his uniform was soiled with… something.

"Please," Ben finally said. "Please tell me that there's some other reason that I can see you and it's not because you're… you're…"

"Dead?" The Marquis de Lafayette whimpered. "Yes. I am."

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I have recently started watching TURN: Washington's Spies and that's what Ben's death scene is based on. Mr. Destler is not a real person, and neither is Annie. (More on them will come later in the story) I you all are staying safe and happy. **


	11. 10: In which Lafayette reflects on death

**Warnings: this chapter contains death, violin music, corny rhymes, a musical reference (clap if you get it) and a scene that can be read as gay. **

Lafayette was dead. It was not at all like her expected. Death felt like, well, it felt like being alive. Except, you were not alive. It felt like being there, but not there. The best way to describe it was like this: it was like when you are lying at the bottom of the pool on your back and staring up at everything happening above the water. You feel disconnected from the rest of the world- like you're in the middle of whatever's going on above the water but not a part of it. For a moment, you feel a sense of extreme peace, quickly followed by the oppressive need to breathe- the need for air. You then swim up towards the surface and take those deep breaths. You are now part of the rest of the world again, and you don't know if you like it.

That's what death feels like. Except that, you are unable to swim to the surface and take those much needed breathes of air. Just the ever worsening need for air. It was awful. And Ben's freak-out was not helping. The other ghost- he had introduced himself as Nathan- looked at Lafayette sympathetically. Nathan was odd, he had flaxen blonde hair and blue eyes. He was of average height and build, and wore the simple clothes of a farmer. He also had a powder burn of his left cheek and his neck was cocked at an odd angle. Lafayette didn't know why he would have any reason to be here and why Tallmadge seemed to know him.

He also didn't know why Tallmadge could see him. It had taken him about 10 minutes after the… incident to figure out that he was dead and another twenty to figure out that no one could see him. Except Ben. It was all far too confusing for his still-trying-to-fully-master-the-english-language brain. So, he liked to make a list. It had happened like this.

1) He had taken the drink of that coffee that the back-stabbing-snake-in-the-grass-

Witch-hunter (the man formerly known as Hercules Mulligan) had given him. What followed was excruciating pain, vomiting, betrayal, sadness, and then- nothing.

2) He lay on the ground for a moment, trying to figure out what happened. It was then that Elizabeth charged out of the bushes and Hercules tried to put a punjab lasso around her throat. Without thinking, he had gotten up and charged towards them. He had screamed for her to "put her hand at the level of her eye" and then realized that that phrase might be confusing, so he grabbed her hand and placed it into the proper position. And just in the nick of time too.

3) He had then done what any normal person would do under the circumstances, and ran away. He had stumbled for the trees for a moment, until he reached the road. It was when he tried to break a branch off the nearest tree to use as a weapon, that he finally realized that he was dead. The thought had hit him like this: "Oh. I'm dead." Followed by quite a bit of shaking and dry heaving up nothing on the side of the nearest road.

4) It was on the side of that road that he realized no one could see him.

5) Once he had finished his slight-mental breakdown, he began to walk. He didn't know where he was going, he just wanted to get… somewhere. He would be stuck in this strange almost-country for the rest of his existence. He would never see Adrienne again, he would never see his daughter again-

6) Another mental breakdown. Another ghost wandered past and looked at him sadly. "You'll get used to it son, don't worry." Easier said than done.

7) He had wandered around for what felt like forever, going in no particular direction. It was then he saw Alex, John, and Angelica walking a medium sized, (dun-dun-dun Emile was actually a medium sized dog!) rather fluffy, dog. They were also walking with another ghost, who Lafayette didn't recognize. Nathan. Lafayette ran over towards his friends, and when Nathan saw the dead french man running towards him, he had almost fallen over. Lafayette had been told not to share that fact with Ben.

8) Nathan had grabbed Lafayette by the arm and dragged him into the house. _What happened? _he had asked. _Actually- you know what? I don't want to know. _They had marched into the study, where Ben was sitting staring at nothing. Tallmadge looked just like normal, except he looked… better. He looked… ethereal. Like a hero from one of those greek myths. It was strange. He spotted Lafayette- looked directly at him- and flown into a minor temper tantrum.

9) Which brought them to where they were now.

He explained all of that to Tallmadge, who simply nodded. "Poison…" he muttered. "Why didn't he use the punjab?" Lafayette shrugged. Someone in the house was playing a violin. It was beautiful.

"Perhaps he wanted to… make my death look less suspicious?" It was so weird to be saying things like "my death". He shuddered. It was Ben's turn to shrug.

"Perhaps." Tallmadge put his head in his hands and groaned. Nathan drifted over and sat next to him. He wrapped his arms around Tallmadge and rested his head on his back. Tallmadge looked up at Nathan, smiled, and hugged him back. It was… tender and wholesome and it made Lafayette's heart swell and-

He was interrupting a private moment. He exited, but forgot that he didn't need to open doors anymore, and it slammed shut with a bang. The violin music was still playing, and Lafayette drifted in the direction of it. The house was beautifully decorated.

He was in the entrance hallway right now. The french doors that a living person would use to enter the house were a dark wood, exactly like the other ones that adorned the side of the long hallway. There was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and it would look beautiful when it was lit. At the end of the hall there was an open sitting room, with red velvet couches and a fireplace. To the left of the sitting room there was a dark wooden stairwell, with a red velvet carpet lying on it. The hallway was flanked with an army of gold candelabras, and they continued up the stairs. Lafayette followed them up to the second floor.

The second floor was completely dark, except for the candles lining the hallway. He couldn't see much. The violin music continued, coming from somewhere above him. He was about to continue up the stairs when he heard the front door slam. He froze. A moment later, a very flustered Angelica Schulyer stomped up the stairs. Her strawberry blonde girls were in disarray, and she looked thoroughly vexed.

He had grown used to people walking around him because one could not walk through a living person, but now that he was a dead person, she walked right through him. It was a strange feeling. The world went blurry for a moment and he felt nauseous. Within a minute he was back. It was probably the worst experience of his (after) life and he made a mental note to never let it happen again. A moment later, John and Alex scampered up after her.

He felt a pang at seeing his friends again, knowing they would never again see him. Knowing that they would never spend a long, sleepless night staring up at the stars- speculating on the movements of the British troops. Knowing that they would never again play pranks on Ben Tallmadge- that he would have to spend the rest of his miserable existence with Tallmadge and his ghost friend for company. Agh.

Knowing that he would never see his General again.

As a young man (by all rights he still was one. He was only 21.) he had put a lot of thought into death. His father had died on the battlefield, heroically. His mother had died of a broken heart. He had always predicted that he would die like his father. Of a gunshot wound to chest, sustained while he sacrificed himself to save his troops. They would sing songs about him:

_Oh the great Lafayette_

_He died to save us yet _

_He road on his horse_

_To deflect a force _

_And save his troops from deaaaaatttttHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_

(It was a work in progress)

But he hadn't died like that. He had been poisoned. _Poison._ There was nothing heroic about poison. Poison was something that only really stupid people got killed by. And he wasn't really stupid. Was he? At this point, the ballads would probably sound more like this:

_Poor young marquis _

_Dead in the ground_

_Drank some coffee_

_It didn't go down_

Yes, that was very heroic. Vomit. Whoo hoo.

But now, that death had actually happened- It was not as romantic as he had thought. It was kind of… boring. He missed his friends. He missed his wife. He missed his daughter. (Little did he know, his daughter was also dead. How sad.) He missed… living.

He continued up the stairs, in hot pursuit of the violin music. He drifted up to the third floor. It was completely dark. The violin music wasn't coming from there. The only thing left was the attic.

The attic was cozy. Cramped, but cozy. There was an oriental rug on the floor, and the walls were lined with colorful silk draperies and tapestries. It smelled like cinnamon, clove, and some other spice that Lafayette couldn't name. There were several plush couches surrounding three of the walls, and a desk by the other. In the center of the room, there was a large coffee table, covered in papers. In fact, the whole room was covered in papers. Papers and blankets and pillows. Quills and empty ink pots. You had to enter the attic-room through a trapdoor on the floor, and no windows. The light came from an ornamental chandelier on the ceiling.

The violin music coming from the center of the room. From the man in the center of the room. He was tall, and he had his back to Lafayette. He was dressed in a loose fitting white shirt and black pants. He was barefoot. There was a black frock coat draped over the back of the chair next to him. His hair was black, so black that it almost looked dyed, and he was pale- so pale that he was almost translucent. Like he had never seen the sun.

Lafayette stood there for a moment, watching. He was playing a piece that Lafayette had never heard before- perhaps it was an original composition. He was about to creep closer to examine the sheet music when the violin screeched and the man stopped playing. He muttered something to himself before whirling around. He stopped when he saw Lafayette.

"Hello." Lafayette stumbled back. His eyes were yellow, like a cat. And they were filled with tears.

"You can see me?" The Frenchman whispered. The man nodded.

"Of course. I'm sorry for not introducing myself sooner, but generally my visitors give me some notice before they enter my house." He stuck out his hand. "Joseph Destler, at your service." Lafayette accepted and they shook.

"Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette." Joseph raised his eyebrows.

"That's a mouthful," he muttered. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Now that we're properly introduced, do you mind telling me why you're in my house? I have nothing against ghosts- but if you're seeking refuge here I'd like an explanation." He waved him over to one of the couches. Lafayette sat. Joseph sat on the couch across from him. "I would offer you a cookie but you can't eat it so…" Lafayette shrugged.

"I really don't mind." Joseph also shrugged.

"It's alright. I'm not that hungry." He wiped his eyes.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Of course I'm fine. Why would I not be fine." He got very defensive all of a sudden. "Explain." So Lafayette launched into an explanation. He explained about Hercules, about General Schulyer, about Tallmadge and Nathan. He even explained about… him. When he was finished, Joseph just sat there- staring straight ahead. He was silent for what felt like forever.

"I always found pyromaniac an offensive term," he finally said. "It implies that everyone who has the ability to produce flame is evil. But then again, we live in a society where everyone who's not normal is evil." Lafayette nodded.

"Yeah I guess." Joseph stood abruptly.  
"How did you say you died again? Poison- right?" he began to pace. "Poison doesn't leave any marks on the body and it can be easily dispelled through vomiting." He began to mutter to himself. Lafayette only caught snippets of his monologue. "A witch hunter will generally use a punjab lasso… how would a witch hunter get resurrection string… unless he's a necromancer but I wouldn't know that unless I saw him… no he used poison which means that he couldn't heal wounds… but how do I know that he used poison for this reason… bringing back the dead is messy… has to be done before the corpse starts to decay… arsenic can help to offset the process… four days at the most…" he stopped pacing and grabbed his jacket. He put it on and stuffed his feet in the shoes lying next to it.

"Do you want a room? There's several on the second floor. Just take one that's not occupied. I have a feeling that Ben and his ghost friend will be sharing one so there should be plenty." He opened the trapdoor and jumped down to the dark third floor. Lafayette followed, exiting the attic a bit more cautiously, and by the time he reached the third floor landing, Joseph was already halfway down the stairs to the second floor.

By the time Lafayette had reached the second floor, Joseph was halfway down to the first. "Take any room!" he called. "Or no room! I don't really care, just don't leave this house!" And then he was gone.

Lafayette just stood there blinking. He was still standing there when Tallmadge and Nathan came running up the stairs. They were talking quietly and stopped when they saw Lafayette. Tallmadge was gripping the banister so hard his knuckles were white and they both looked extremely awkward.

"Ummm hi."

"Hi."

"Do you need help finding a room?" Nathan asked. Lafayette shook his head.

"Umm okay." Ben and Nathan kept walking and Lafayette stood at the top of the stairs, not knowing what he was going to do.

"It's complicated," Nathan said, turning around. "This whole… "being dead thing". It probably should come with a handbook. A handbook with four parts. Death can get a person stressed, we should have carpe'd way more diems. I just want you to know… I'll… I'll be your guide to the other side. So, if you need anything just ask."

"Uh thanks." Lafayette said. "Thanks." Nathan nodded, and then he and Tallmadge disappeared into the dark.

Full disclosure: this is a story about death.

**I hope you are all staying safe! Next chapter we'll be going back to Eliza and Hercules. Things are going to get intense. And complicated. And confusing. Thank you to everyone who reads this. Your reviews are always appreciated. I've been having trouble with my reviews so I will not be able to respond but I do read them. Have a great day/night! **


	12. 11: In which Hercules shares his plan

**Warnings: This chapter contains jumping off a bridge, death (surprise, surprise), a knife, necromancy, gayness, many corpses, bad life choices, and switching POV's halfway through the chapter**

**Trigger Warning: Mentions of suicide**

Peggy was currently sobbing over the Marquis de Lafayette's corpse. "We need to bury him," she wailed.

"No, we can't bury the body." He had been very adamant about that. He hadn't told the sister _why _they couldn't bury the body, just that they couldn't. Eliza had to admit that it was very annoying. The corpse would begin the smell soon- Eliza hated the smell of dead things.

About a week ago, her youngest brother, Phillip had let some snakes into the house. No one knew exactly how he had done it, just that they had lived in the study for a few days before they finally died. They also hadn't known if the snakes were poisonous or not, and none of them had been brave enough to find out. Which was why they starved to death in the study.

Thankfully, the smell had dissipated before Alexander and his friends had arrived, only to be replaced by the metallic smell of Major Tallmadge's blood. It had been a rough week, to say the least.

"Why not!" Peggy exclaimed, wiping her eyes. "You haven't told us anything- you just keep going on about your 'master plan' and how you're going to 'fix everything' and how we should 'get moving as soon as possible because the longer the body sits around the harder everything's going to be!'" She was right.

Hercules Mulligan was currently tied to the nearest tree with undergarments. Neither Eliza nor her sister had thought of bringing a rope and Hercules had a bag of twine in his bag that he refused to let them use. Eliza hadn't particularly cared about that, but he insisted that the "Master Plan" wouldn't work without it. Eliza had also realized that being tied to a tree with petticoats was considerably more embarrassing.

"If you untie me," Hercules said. "I'll explain." Eliza rolled his eyes. She knew he was going to say that. He had been saying it for the last 3 hours.

"If you explain, we'll untie you." Hercules remained silent. The ropes remained where they were. They had reached a stalemate- something that often happened whenever she played chess with her Father. Except in this case the chess pieces were real people and Eliza herself was one of them.

"We should probably find some way to preserve the- the body." Peggy whimpered, guestering towards the corpse. Eliza found it easier to refer to it as _the corpse_ or _the body. _Calling it _Lafayette _or _The Marquis _made it far too real. If she was going to find her way out of the tunnel she couldn't be waylaid by her emotions. She needed to return leading the pack. She couldn't do that if she was crying after being thrown to the wolves.

"I used arsenic. It prevents the process of decomposition."

"Wow, you've really thought of everything, haven't you?"

"The body can't decay if my-"

"Yes, yes your master plan, we know. There's only one problem; you have yet to explain what your plan actually is!" He sighed.

"I told you-"

"Peggy, may I talk to you for a bit?" Eliza grabbed her sister by the arm and dragged her away from the tree Hercules was currently tied to. "We need to think of a new plan. A way to make him feel like he has no choice but to tell us-"

"Oh it!" Peggy said, smiling wickedly. She turned and sprinted off towards the tree. On the way she grabbed something out of Hercules's bag. There was a glint of silver and then-

Oh god.

"Peggy! Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't do it." Too late. Peggy had a knife pressed to Hercules throat. Eliza had heard of the 5 stages of grief but she didn't think that becoming a muder-hobo was one of them. "Margarita Schuyler Soon-To-Be Van Rensselaer put down the knife and slowly walk-away!" Peggy shook her head

"I will only put down the knife if he," she waved the knife dangerously close to Hercules's jugular. "Tells us what we need to know." Eliza sighed. Peggy's tactics where violent and uncalled for (Yes, Eliza had kind of lost her head when she saw the Marquis- the body but that was completely different) but they had potential to be effective.

Hercules remained silent. "I can assure you that my sister is not bluffing." Hercules swallowed nervously.

"Fine." Peggy whooped. "But in order for this to fully make sense, I need you to kill a squirrel." Eliza raised an eyebrow.

'With what?"

"With the white powder in my bag- sprinkle it on some… what do squirrels eat?"

"Berries?"

"Yes, berries or something." Eliza did as she was told. A few moments later, they had a dead squirrel. Peggy shed some tears. Hercules stopped breathing for a moment. (Remember, Peggy was crying and holding a knife to his throat. A dangerous combination.)

"Now get the twine from my bag." Eliza did as she was told. "Now, I need you to untie my hands." Eliza would not do that.

"No."

"But-"

"No."

"Your little sisters holding a knife to my throat- do you think I'd be stupid enough to run?" Eliza shrugged.

"You were stupid enough to try and think you could get away with killing The Marquis."

"Everything would be going _fine _right now if you and your little sister hadn't come crashing in here before I got a chance to talk to him. Heck, he'd might even be alive again if-"

"What?" Eliza had known that this man was crazy but if she had heard him correctly, he was talking about _resurrection, _That was impossible and yes, one may say that being able to control fire and turn into an animal was impossible but resurrection was a _completely __different _kind of impossible. The kind of impossible that isn't possible. The kind of impossible that only applies to honest politicians and ghosts. (Hmmmm do you see what's going on here?)

"If you untie my hands I'll show you." Eliza looked at Peggy. Peggy looked at Eliza. They both nodded. Eliza walked over the Hercules and untied the petticoats. Hercules flexed his wrists and took the twine from Eliza's outstretched hand.

"No funny business."

"Of course." Sighing, he picked up the squirrel corpse and tied a piece of string around it's tail.

"Umm, Margarita?"

"Peggy."

"Yes, Peggy. Can you cut this?" Carefully, she removed the knife from his neck and did what he asked. The knife was back in position almost immediately. Hercules grimaced and laid the squirrel out on the ground in front of him. Then, he began to sing.

Eliza covered her ears. It was not as much singing as it was screeching. Peggy seemed to be fighting the urge to cover her ears and looked like she was _this close_ to severing his vocal cords when he stopped.

And the squirrel's tail twitched. It's nose twitched. It blinked. It carefully got to its feet and scampered away. Peggy dropped the knife. Hercules smiled.

_I'm hallucinating._ Eliza thought. That was the only logical explanation. Resurrection wasn't real, necromancy wasn't real, ghosts weren't real-

Or were they? 

Hercules Mulligan was relishing the expression on Elizabeth's face. The girl had been so smug earlier,

watching her react to this made his day a little better.

Which wasn't saying much but still.

He hesitantly picked up the knife that Peggy had dropped. Both of the sisters were too stunned to react and Hercules was fairly certain that he could kill them both now if he wanted to. He was a trained assassin after all.

Hercules had been able to see ghosts for almost his entire life. When he was 5 he jumped off a bridge. Not in a suicidal way but in a young and stupid way. He, his brother and his brother's friend had been swimming in a nearby lake. His brother hadn't wanted him along and had made that fact very clear. When his brother and his friend started doing flips off the footbridge that allowed horses to cross over the lake Hercules felt like he needed to join them.

A terrible decision, really. He misjudged the depth of the pool and dove. You can imagine how well that went. He hit his head, died, and then a minute later, swam to the surface to meet his brother. His brother promptly nicknamed him "Hank the Tank" because no one could have survived that dive. Even at 5 years old, Hercules knew that he hadn't but didn't feel like correcting his brother.

One week later, a young woman did what Hercules had done, but on purpose. His parents had banned the boys from heading down to the lake after that, but a few days after the suicide Hercules snuck out of the house to visit the scene of the tragedy. It was there he met his first ghost.

There was a lady sitting in the middle of the lake. "I didn't kill myself!" She was screaming. "It was murder! It was murder!" She was young and pretty, that was all Hercules noticed at the time seeing as he was a child and he was far more interested in dresses then death.

"Umm excuse me?" he had asked her. She had looked up at him, confused. "Where did you get that dress? It's very pretty- the needlework is impeccable." Remember that this boy will grow up to be a tailor (an assassin spy tailor but still, a tailor) so obviously had an unhealthy obsession with clothes and yes, he used the word "impeccable." He's 5 not a moron.

"You can see me?" The Ghost-Lady whispered. Hercules nodded uncomfortably. The Ghost-Lady shrieked. "You need to tell them! Tell them that I was MUR-DERED." She actually said it like that. Like Murder was two seperate words. Mur. Dered. It was strange and Hercules began to back away. The only thought in his brain was this:

_Must get away from the crazy ghost woman. Must get away from the crazy ghost woman. Forget about the dress- just get away from the _crazy ghost woman!

"Where are you going?" The Ghost-Lady asked. She seemed to notice that Hercules was running away. "No, NO" She screamed. Hercules began to run. He stumbled through the underbrush and ran right into another man. Hercules screamed right before he passed out.

Fast Forward 11 years. Hercules had been a Witch Hunter for exactly one year. He had been in the middle of hunting a pyromaniac through Prussia. It was there that he met Anastasia. Anastasia, like him, could see ghosts, but she was a bit different. She could raise dead. She could also make the dead quite easily. He found that out when he was ambushed by a group of bandits. He could have handled himself (he really couldn't have) and he hadn't needed her help (he did) but he was grateful that she had come to his aid. (That last part was true) They had been traveling together in the same carriage when the bandits stopped them.

Hercules should have been able to take down the bandits with just his Punjab. Except for one thing. These bandits were pyros. Which made the whole thing much more difficult. Until Anastasia jumped out of the carriage and pressed her hand into the middle of the bandit closest to her's chest. His veins seemed to pulse black and within a second, he was dead. The rest of them turned tail and fled.

As if the black vein thing wasn't weird enough, she then waved her hand over the corpse. It then stood up. Hercules almost wet himself (But he didn't!) The Corpse then positioned itself on the side of the road before laying back down and being dead again. The ghost of the dead bandit climbed out of the corpse and rubbed his head.

"What the f$% was that?" Anastasia simply shrugged.

"Go on your way or else I'll be forced to forcibly remove you from existence."

"You can't do that-" Anastasia clapped and the ghost disapperated. She smiled.

"Oh, I assure you I can." Hercules stared at her- shocked. He then decided to take one from the bandit.

"What the f$% was that?" Anastasia blanched.

"How much of that did you see?"

"All of it. Including the ghost." She massaged her temples.

"Well, since you see ghosts you understand how that works. Which makes some of the explaining easier." She began to pace.

"You just see ghosts. Which means you've died a total of at the most twice. When someone has died and comes back again a third time, Death decides that you've come too close for him to let you go. He either keeps you, or he sends you back as one of his… instruments." Hercules did not like where this conversation was going.

"I prefer the term necromancer. Instruments just sounds weird. Well anyway, being a necromancer means that you can use magic to kill people, like what I did with the bandit." She gestured to the corpse. "You can also animate the dead, like what I did with the bandit, and if you really want to you can bring someone back to life. For good. But in order to do that, you must take a fresh life. For instance, I've killed many people in my life," Hercules wasn't as disturbed by this fact as he should have been. "But if I wanted to bring the bandit back to life- which is now impossible since I've destroyed his soul, another thing I'm able to do- I'd have to kill you and then transfer your life energy to him."

"Please don't do that."

"Oh, don't worry. As a rule, I don't like to bring people back to life. It's messy."

"Umm great." She ignored him.

"And the last thing necromancers can do, well, the last thing I know we can do. There's probably many things that we can do I just don't know. I've only met one other person like me in my life, which is an anomaly. We're very rare."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"You want an explanation don't you?" No. He did not.

"Yes."

"Well, I'm giving you an explanation. The last thing that necromancers can do is," she turned to face him, her eyes were solid black, like ink. He took a step back. "See how people die."

"You can what?" This was getting creepy. Hercules debated the consequences of punjabing this girl.

"I know _exactly _how you are going to die, Hercules Mulligan."

"How did you know my name?"

"You told me. In the carriage." Oh. Right.

"Well, can you tell me how I die?" She shook her head. The inky black dissolved and her eyes were back to their former gray.

"No. I'm not allowed to. I physically can't tell you. If I try to tell you that you're going to _eid fo dlo ega retfa uoy evah devil a gnol dna suorepsorp efil _ the words don't come out properly." Hercules nodded.

"Well shall we get going? I have a job to do." Anastasia nodded.

"We shall. But we'll have to walk. The driver died and the horses escaped."

"Oh." Hercules turned to look back at the carriage. Anastasia was correct about both the fate of the driver and the horses. "I'll go get our stuff."

"I already got it." She walked over to one of the nearby bushes and pulled out his suitcases and a briefcase. She handed him his suitcase and he took it.

"Uhh thanks."

"You're welcome."

They continued walking in almost silence. Birds were chirping above their heads and they could hear the rustle of animals in the bushes. They had been walking for almost an hour when Anastasia spoke.

"You said you had a job to do. What do you do for a living Hercules?" He had only known this girl for a day and yet he was fairly certain that telling her he was a Witch Hunter would not be a wise decision.

"I'm a tailor." He said. Not a truth but not a lie either.

"Just a tailor?" He nodded. "You're lying. I've seen your tattoo." Uh oh. "How long were you going to wait before you kill me?"

"I wasn't going to kill you." That was true. Unlike most Witch Hunters, he wasn't anti-magic. He was fine with e_d_ians and he was fine with seers and he guessed he was fine with necromancers like Anastasia. He was only anti-pyromaniac. She told her just as much. "I only kill Pyromaniacs." She pursed her lips.

"I see." They continued in silence. It took them two hours but they finally reached the town. Anastasia hadn't said anything to him since his confession.

"Well, goodbye I guess." He said and began to walk away.

"Wait," she said. He turned back. She opened her briefcase and pulled out a roll of twine. She handed it to him.

"Uhh thank you?"

"This is a special kind of twine. It's made from my hair." Hercules glanced at it. It was the same color as Anastasia's hair. He shuddered. "You can use it to bring back the dead. It's not as powerful as a necromancer- you can only use it one bodies that haven't died from an injury or begun to decay and it doesn't always work but I want you to have it. All you have to do is tie a piece of twine around the wrist of the dead thing you want to bring back and do the same thing for the ghost. It should work after that but you'll have to wait a bit. The longer the body and ghost are separated the less likely the twine it the work. I hope you put it to good use." She turned and began to walk away. Now it was his turn to stop her.

"Why did you give this to me." She didn't look back at him.

"Because you're going to fall in love with a person you have to kill. I'm giving you this just in case you make the wrong choice." With that cryptic remark, she was gone.

Hercules was staring at that twine now, thinking of Anastasia's last words to him. _You're going to fall in love with a person you have to kill. I'm giving you this in case you make the wrong choice. _He looked over at Lafayette's corpse. No- there was no way. Hercules barely knew the young frenchman. Yes, he had been planning to bring the Frenchman back to life but that was just because Lafayette was important to the revolution. Killing him would be condemning their cause.

His original plan had been to kill Lafayette and then talk to his ghost. He would explain about the twine and how he needed to bring his corpse to the Witch Hunters as proof that Hercules had done what he had been sent to do. He would then request to bury the corpse himself and ask if he could be sent on assignment in Europe. He was certain that the answer would be yes. He would then revive Lafayette and board the ship to Europe, where he would create an entirely new identity and begin to hunt the pyromaniac who killed his parents by himself. No more Witch Hunters.

But Elizabeth and her sister messed that up. Lafayette saved Elizabeth from his Punjab (something he was sorely disappointed about) escaped, and then Elizabeth somehow knocked him out. This girl was stronger then he had given her credit for.

He was still holding the knife but neither of the girls seemed to be paying attention to him anymore. Both of them seemed to have overcome their initial shock and were currently conversing quietly. Peggy was the first one to realize that he was holding the knife.

"Give it back," she said, sounding a bit like a toddler. Hercules shrugged and pocketed the knife.

"I promise I won't use it."

"Why don't I trust you?"

"Because I'm a murderer?" Peggy sighed.

"If we let you keep the knife will you explain everything?" There was no point in explaining that a) he was keeping the knife no matter what and b) he was going to explain everything anyway so he simply said yes.

"But you might want to sit down. It's a long story." He told them that he had joined the Witch Hunters at 15 (a truth) and that he had been gifted the resurrection twine by a gifted shaman. (A lie) He told them that he had been sent to kill The Marquis by his boss (a truth) and he didn't want to. (Another truth) He told them that no one had ever been able to double-cross his boss and survive (also a truth) so he needed to be cunning. He told them how he had crafted the plan to kill The Marquis and then resurrect him after he had shown the corpse to the witch hunters. (He left out the part about the ghost for obvious reasons) He then told them that he planned to ask for reassignment and flee to Europe. The Schuylers listened to his confession silently and they didn't speak until the end.

"Why not just flee to Europe right away?" Eliza asked.

"Because there's no way I'd be able to leave the colonies without my boss finding out. I'd be dead before I reached shore." Eliza sighed.

"Well I'm not saying I agree with what you did but I know why you did it."

"Thank you." Silence.

"Well, what should we do next?" Peggy asked.

"Pardon?"

"How do we help?"

"You want to… help?"

"Yeah, help."

"Why are we helping him?"

"Because Eliza, it's very obvious that we've messed up his plan. We need to make it right."

"I just don't see why-"

"Eliza."

"But-"

"_Eliza_"

"Fine. How can we help?" Hercules contemplated this for a moment. He would definitely need help locating Lafayette's ghost, but as far as he knew the sisters couldn't help with that. They were from the area however, and might be able to help him find where Lafayette might go.

"Where's the nearest civilization?" Hercules asked. Both Eliza and Peggy seemed to contemplate this for a moment.

"The nearest town is south of us, on Long Island."

"That's too far." Hercules shook his head. Peggy frowned.

"Doesn't Father's friend live close by? Mr. Kessler or something?"

"Oh yeah, he does. But I don't think-"

"We need to go there." Hercules said. "How far away is it?"

"If we set out right now we'll probably reach there by the end of the day."

"Good." He picked up his satchel and put the twine and knife inside. "Pack your things. We're leaving now." He would find Lafayette and set things right. _I'm giving you this incase you make the wrong choice. _

He wasn't going to.


	13. 12: In which the L word is thrown around

**Warnings: This chapter contains confirmation that that one scene that could've been gay actually was, internalized period typical homophobia, stabbing, death, an unhealthy sleep schedule, a bit of an unhealthy relationship, and growing apart **

Ben stabbed angrily at his scrambled eggs. He missed. (Which was a bit disappointing seeing as it ruined the whole stabbing-angrily-at-your-food vibe.) He tried again. This time he succeeded and jammed a forkful of scrambled egg into his mouth. Nathan had been ignoring him since last night, and was still doing that. The ghost was currently talking to Lafayette about something. Ben felt a twinge of not-jealousy and considered walking over to the ghost and telling him how he really felt.

But he didn't. For two reasons:

1\. There were other people in the room and going over to talk to someone who everyone else couldn't see was weird

2\. He _really _didn't want to have that conversation.

Benjamin Tallamdge was not an awkward person when it came to matters of the heart. Or, he was an extremely awkward person when it came to matters of the heart. It depended on how you looked at it. (Or your gender) He was the son of a preacher and grew up listening to his father's sermons. He listened to his father preach on a variety of issues- from growing crops to freedom- but there was one sermon that he had been thinking about a lot, especially lately. (You can probably guess which one that is. I'll give you a hint: Leviticus 20:13)

It all started a long time ago. It happened three years ago. It was brought up again last night. Bear with me, dear reader, for we are probing into the deepest, darkest parts of Benjamin Tallmadge's mind. The part he even hides from himself. Most of you already know where this is going, so I am going to clear something up. It's a bit weird, but it was something that bugged me while I was writing this chapter.

The definition of necrophilia, is when someone is sexually attracted to a corpse. Having romantic inclinations for a ghost which you knew before they died does not count. Back to the story.

Last night, Nathan hugged Ben. Last night, Ben hugged Nathan back. That small act brought back buried memories of an event that happened two years ago- an event Ben had chosen to ignore. Nathan probably wouldn't have ignored it, but he died and that was slightly more important. Nathan had been the first one to bring _it _up.

"I remember," he had said, their lips inches apart. Ben's breath had hitched. One thought had coursed through his brain, over and over. _Oh shi*te oh sh*te oh sh*te oh sh*te._ "I would kiss you if I wasn't dead." Ben did not know how to respond. His brain shifted over to autopilot. Autopilot responded with:

"Why should that matter?" Stupid Autopilot. Nathan raised an eyebrow.  
"I'd say it matters a lot, but whatever," He leaned closer, closing the gap between them. Ben swore and tumbled off the couch, avoiding Nathan's perfect, translucent lips. This was not going well.

"Was that an accident?" The ghost inquired. Ben reluctantly shook his head. Nathan sighed. "Not again."

"It's just- the timing," Ben lied. "This is not the time nor the place. We had slightly more pressing matters." Nathan frowned.

"We always have 'slightly more pressing matters'," he said mockingly. They had tried to address _it _several times, but it was always overshadowed by something else (like Ben falling off the boat into the Delaware River) or someone walking in and interrupting them. It had taken them three years to address _it _and it seemed like there would not be ignoring it any longer. "Do I need to tell you what happened, again? Have you forgotten?" Ben shook his head.

"No." Nathan shrugged.

"I'm going to anyway." He drifted over towards what Ben assumed was the window and looked up at what Ben assumed was the sky. Ben was still sprawled on the floor and he sat up, preparing for train-wreck that was about to happen.

"Once," he said, assuming a very theatrical tone of voice. That was Nathan for you. "There was a night. There was no moon that night, and it was very hard to see anything. You and I went out drinking. I had something to tell you, and I needed you to get you drunk in order to share the news. I accidentally got myself drunk as well though."

"That was why I-"

"Don't you dare blame this on alcohol, Tallmadge. You had two drinks- which is the most liquor I've ever seen you consume in my entire life and after-life- I had three. We were both intoxicated, but not so much that our thinking was muddled. After sneaking back into camp, we returned to my tent. It was there I said: 'Damon," That was there college nicknames for each other. Pythias and Damon, the greek equivalents of best friends. (If you haven't heard the myth before, look it up. It's rather tragic when you know what happens to Nathan later in life) "'Tomorrow I am leaving. I cannot tell you where I'm going, just that I am going.' Do you remember what you said to me then?" Ben nodded. He did.

"You said, 'How dangerous is it, Pythias?' 'Very,' I replied. 'I may never see you again.'" And he was right. Ish. They had seen each other again, just not in the way anyone could've expected "We sat there in silence for a moment, the gravity of our situation sinking in and then- I kissed you."

"And I kissed you back," Ben whispered. "And then, I kissed you again."

"And again."

"And again."

"And then you passed out before we could do anything more. Who passes out with two drinks in them Tallmadge?" Ben blushed despite himself. "No matter. The point is we both fell asleep. Next to each other. But when I woke up-" Ben cringed. "You were gone."

"I was gone."

"_You _were _gone. _I thought, at first, it was because I had overslept and you had been forced to leave to go do something. But no. It was almost 2:00- nothing was going on in camp. You had just… left."

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "It was just… just…."

"Just what?" Ben said nothing. "I thought so." Yes, Ben had left. Left, in the middle of the night while Nathan was sleeping. But it wasn't what it looked like. Ben was the son of a preacher and grew up hearing about the sins of homosexuality. So, when the person you want to be a homosexual with kisses you while they're drunk, how do you know they really mean it? (Contrary to what he said- Nathan had had a lot to drink.) And if they do mean it, you know that you're both going to spend your after-life surrounded by fire and brimstone. How can you condemn yourself? How can you condemn the person you love?

But how do you say all that? How do you say 'It was just because I was scared'? How do you say 'I don't want to go to hell.'? How do you say 'I didn't want you to go to hell'? How do you tell someone you love them?

Short answer: You don't. Which is why Ben said nothing. Nathan sighed and began to say something. Right then, Ben heard the door open. "I'm leaving," Mr. Destler said. "I'll be back sometime. Don't leave until I get back. Also- you should probably go speak to the french ghost. He seems lost." He slammed the door closed.

"We should probably go talk to Lafayette," Ben said, standing up.

"Benjamin Tallmadge!" Nathan scolding, sounding scarily like a mom. "We are not done with this conversation." Ben managed to stumble to the door without bumping into anything and he opened it. Lafayette was standing at what Ben could assume was the top of the stairs. Nathan began to speak and Ben shushed him. You have already read about the exchange between Lafayette and Nathan so I feel no pressure to explain it to you. Let's just skip to what happened after:

Ben and Nathan entered their room. "Where's the bed?" Ben inquired. Nathan just frowned and turned his back on his friend (Were they officially more? Were they even friends anymore?) Ben had a sneaking suspicion that unless he said something, he would be sleeping on the floor. Ben remained silent. He preferred the floor.

"You know what the worst thing about it is Ben?" Nathan finally said, very quietly. "I was going to go to The General in the morning and tell him that I wasn't the right fit for the spy mission. That I would be too conspicuous- he may have written me off as a coward but I'm certain he would have been able to find someone to go in my place. Or maybe he would've realized that the mission was entirely pointless. Do you know what it feels like to die for nothing?" It took Ben a moment to comprehend what Nathan was saying.

"Do you mean to say- that if I had stayed- you wouldn't've gone on the mission- which means that if I had stayed-," Nathan turned to look at him. He did that thing where he rotated his 180 degrees and it made the nausea in the pit of Ben's stomach multiply.

"That I wouldn't be dead? What do you think?" He then left- walking right through the wall. Ben was not able to find the bed that night, and not wanting to accidentally knock something over, spent the night on the cold hard floor. Needless to say he did not sleep well. He stabbed at the eggs again.

"Someone seems to be in a bad mood today," Angelica said. "Perhaps you should vent through physical activity instead of taking it out on those poor eggs. I saw some swords mounted on the wall- how do you feel about fencing?"

"One, I'm pretty sure that any swords on Mr. Destler's walls are probably tipped with poison. Two, did you really just ask to fence a blind person?" Angelica laughed.

"You're probably right. And you said you didn't want to be discriminated against because of your lack-of-eyesight. Besides, can't the ghost just help you fence?" Ben clammed up at the mention of Nathan. Angelica seemed to notice this.

"Ohhhhh, did something happen with the ghost? Girl trouble?" Ben almost choked. She didn't know how accurate her statement was.

"No," he coughed. "Nothing's wrong. Let's… take a walk. After breakfast we can bring Emile."

"Sure. Except we won't bring the dog. I don't really like dogs…" (Becauses she's a cat. Get it?) Ben put down his fork and stood up.

"I'm actually finished eating. Would you like to go now?"

"You still have food on your plate-"

"I'm finished."

"Okay. Yeah, now would be fine." He heard her stand up and begin to leave.

"Umm, Angelica could you help?" He heard her sigh. A moment later, she grabbed his hand.

"C'mon." As they left, they passed Nathan and Lafayette. Nathan looked up but quickly looked away. As they left the dining room they passed Lauren's in the hallway.

"Where are you going?"

"On a walk. And no- you and Alex may not come." She stopped.

"Oh Ben, could we go upstairs quickly? I forgot my hat." Ben wasn't sure why, exactly, she needed a hat but he went with it.

"Sure." As she led him up the stairs he felt an overwhelming sense of dread. Angelica was not bringing him up here simply to grab her hat.

"Where's your room?" she whispered once they had reached the landing. He froze.

"Why do you want to go to my room?"

"I don't need your room, per se, just where you put your stuff."

"Uhhh, in my room?"

"Ah," she said. "Well, we need your room then. We're leaving."

"What?"

"We're leaving. There's no point in staying here any longer- Lafayette's not going to show up. We need to find him." Ben laughed nervously and tried to disguise it as a cough.

"Um, actually. He has shown up. But not in the capacity we hoped."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he paused, trying to think of the best way to say this. "You know how I told you I can see ghosts?"

"Yes? Wait- have you seen… is he?" Ben nodded. Angelica sighed again.

"Hercules killed him."

"Obviously. Is he with us now?" Ben shook his head.

"He's in the dining room with Nathan,"

"Nathan?"

"The ghost."

"Has he seen Eliza?" Ben nodded. "Is she-" From what Ben gathered, Eliza had been left alone with Hercules. His first attempt with the punjab had failed but Ben didn't know if Hercules would try it again. He also didn't know if the petite Schuyler would be able to stand her ground against Mulligan- who was more muscular. Ben could assume that she was probably dead or unconscious somewhere. He did not, however, tell Angelica this in a way that seemed optimistic.

"Last time he saw her, she was alive. She was with Hercules." Angelica sighed again.

"Well, we need to go after her."

"We do?" He could feel her glaring at him. He coughed. "Of course we do. But how do we explain that to Alex and John?"

"We don't. We leave without them. Now."

"Now? Now, now?" Angelica sighed. She seemed to do that a lot. Was it only when she was with him?

"Yes, now, now. Where's your room again?" Ben did not know.

"Ummm, I know it's to the left of the stairs. Just look through all the rooms." He turned and fumbled over to the banister. When he firmly had it in his hand, he began to walk down the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to someone. I'll be in the dining room. Get me when you're done."

"Will you be able to find the dining room?" Honestly he didn't know.

"Yes," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the universe. "Why wouldn't I be able to find the dining room?" Angelica mumbled something inaudible. It was Ben's turn to sigh. He managed to make it down the stairs without falling and find the dining room. Nathan and Lafayette were sitting at what Ben assumed was the dining room table, doing something. They both looked up when Ben entered. Nathan quickly looked away.

"C'mon let's keep playing. Go Fish."

"Are you really playing cards? Did death change your luck or are you just suddenly okay with losing?" Nathan glared at him.

"I have nothing to say to you." Lafayette fidgeted nervously.

"I should go, zis is not my place." The ghost stood and walked through the door.

"He's really gotten used to being dead- hasn't he? He didn't try to open the door this time." Nathan continued glaring at him.

"Okay so, Angelica and I are leaving to go look for Eliza. Are you and Lafayette going with us?" No matter how angry Nathan was, Ben was almost certain that his friend (?) would want to come with him. He was wrong.

"No."

"What?"

"We're staying here." Ben blinked. He couldn't have heard that correctly.

"Why?"

"Because, I think we need to go our separate ways. I'm going back to France with Lafayette and then I might travel around Europe."

"Oh," Ben stood. "Well, I wish you the best of luck. It was a pleasure serving with you, Captain Hale."

"Good bye, Captain Tallmadge." Ben felt like he had been stabbed.

"It's Major." He replied. "Major Tallmadge."

"I know." Ben turned and left the room. He was livid. He was also sad. He was also scared. . Someone needed to come up with a word that means "feeling a mix of emotions." Ben was feeling that. He slammed the door to the dining room and sunk down to the floor.

Right before he left for Yale, his friends Anna Strong and Abraham Woodhull started going out together. "If this ends badly," his friend Caleb Brewster had said, "You better not mess up our quartet." I had ended badly, and it had messed up their "quartet." In short, Ben knew how romance could ruin a friendship. He just never thought it would happen to him.

This wasn't fair. Why couldn't he just say what he felt? He had messed everything up. If he hadn't gotten kicked by that horse, he would've been able to warn Lafayette about Hercules. This was all his fault.

"Are you crying?" Ben hadn't noticed Angelica walk up to him but she obviously had.

"No," he wiped his eyes and stood up. "Do you have my stuff?" She thrust a satchel into his hands. "Thanks," he murmured. "How do we get out of here without anyone seeing us?"

"Uhh we use the door?"

"Oh right. The door. Do you know where the stable is?

"Uhhh no?"

"Great."

Joseph was tired. His thoughts were muddled and he felt like he was moving through the water. Normally, being this tired was not a good thing. But Joseph hadn't felt like he needed sleep for the past ten years and he couldn't remember the last time he actually did it. He hadn't even bothered putting a bed in his attic. Now, he actually wanted to sleep. In a bed. Wow.

Ironically, now he didn't have time to sleep. He needed to talk to young Major Tallmadge. The boy was standing on the edge of a deep hole, a hole Joseph himself had fallen into and was still trying to climb out of. He also had a theory about the currently deceased fire bringer (The boy's name had escaped him) and the witch hunter. A theory that meant that fire bringer wouldn't be dead for much longer.

He dismounted and led Ayesha towards the stable. The horse knickered softly and he stroked her nose. "I know." He noticed that two of the horses were missing. Odd. Perhaps the two other boys had left. All he had to say was good riddance. They were inconsequential and normal. Normal humans were exceedingly boring.

The walk back up to his house had never felt this long before. It was going to rain, he noticed looking at the sky, He changed his pace to a slow jog. When he finally reached the front door, it had begun the pour. He was now soaked to the skin and fighting the urge to fall asleep on his feet. He could not think of any way this day could get any worse. As is typical of this story, he was sorely mistaken.

He entered the house and hung his cloak up on one of the hooks. He sighed. He was creating a puddle on the foyer floor. One of the boys- James right?- exited the study and entered the hallway. That was concerning. If James and… Aaron? hadn't left then who had taken the horses? Oh no.

"Are Major Tallmadge and the eldest Schuyler still here?" Jason (The boys name was definitely Jason. Right?) looked up.

"No," he grumbled. "They left." Ohhhhhhh shhhhhh!tttttteeeeeee. Sh!te sh!te sh!te sh!te sh!te. On the scale of days, Joseph day had probably clocked in at a 5. Now, it took a swan dive towards 1. And broke its neck at the bottom of the lake. No diving in this lake. He expressed his swan dive emotions by emitting a sound that would have made a howler monkey jealous. (if he had known what a howler monkey is) Jamerson walked away nervously.

A moment later, Ben's ghost friend drifted into the room. "You!" Joseph cried. "Where is your boyfriend!" The ghost paled. (Or, he would have paled. If ghosts could pale.)

"My boyfriend?"

"Yes! Don't play dumb with me! I've seen how you look at Tallmadge!" Perhaps the lack of sleep was affecting his brain in unforeseen ways. Perhaps he was just going slightly insane. Both were equally plausible.

"W-why does this matter?"

"Because everything matters! EvErYtHiNg!" It was then the ghost broke. He fell to the ground and began to emit wailing sounds like a banshee. Did this mean that Joseph was going to die? He scoffed. Been there, done that.

"I chased him awayyyyyyyy," The ghost wailed. "I didn't listen to him and I was mean and now I don't think he's ever coming back!" He stopped wailing for a moment. "He called me Captain Hale! And I called his Captain Tallmadge!"

"Major, Tallmadge."

"I knowwwwwwwww. I was just being ruddddddeeeeeeeeee." Ghosts were volatile. Joseph assumed it had something to do with the fact that they were translucent and were made of nothing but memories and a bit of magic. Needless to say, a ghost's mood could change quickly and with very little warning. The frenchman ghost poked his head out from behind the study door. He started to say something but Joseph waved him away. Their conversation would have to wait.

Joseph knelt down next to the screaming ghost- he had called himself Captain Hale correct? "It's going to be okay," he said, trying to be empathic. He just needed this ghost to stop screaming. Hale did not. Joseph rolled his eyes. He hadn't wanted to do this but-

He closed his eyes and focused on Hale's energy. It was chaotic and discombobulated. Joseph exhaled and forced the ghost to calm down. The wailing ceased.

"What did you do?" The ghost- Joseph had already forgotten his name, he was bad with names- asked. Joseph shrugged.

"What I had to do."

"Are you okay?" Joseph thought about this for a moment.

"No, no I am not."

"You look like you're going to fall over-"

"I am _not _going to fall over." He stood up. The room spun momentarily and he squeezed his eyes shut. Head rush. No, it was not just a head rush. Was it just him or was the floor getting closer. The ghost said something Joseph couldn't discern. The whole world seemed… fuzzy. Joseph groaned, willing himself not to close his eyes. He didn't have time for this. Except…

He was very tired. Very, very tired. Most humans probably couldn't operate as long as he had without sleep. He would be of no use to anyone if he didn't sleep, right? Sighing, he stood up, ignoring the head rush.

"I'm going. To bed." He told the ghost. It had been so long since he'd said those words. "Tell everyone not to bother me until the morning. Don't bother me til morning."

"What are we going to do then?"

"When? In the morning? Then, my dear Captain Shale-"

"Hale."

"Yes, Vale. We are going to go hunting. For a Witch Hunter." Then he passed out.

"Pothole," Angelica called.

"I know," Benjamin replied. His horse side-stepped over the small dent in the road and he shivered. "It's going to rain." She looked up. It was going to rain. How did he know that?

"How do you know that?"

"I can feel it," he whispered. She raised an eyebrow.

"You sound like my grandmother." A second later, rain began pouring out of the sky. A bolt of lightning split the sky and Angelica's horse reared back.

"Whoa-oh," she said, stroking the horse's neck. "Calm down. It's just a little rain." The horse whinnied, They wouldn't be able to stay out in this weather. She dismounted and grabbed it by the reins. A moment later, Benjamin did the same though it took him a bit longer.

A wave of thunder shook the sky. Benjamin let out a yelp. Angelica snorted. "It's worse when you can't see anything," he hissed. "Is there a barn anywhere nearby? Or any other kind of shelter really." Angelica scanned the trees. She thought she could see a house or something but she wasn't sure. She began to walk towards it.

"C'mon I think I see something."

"Which way? Which way are we going?" Benjamin was panicking. Typical. But she supposed being stuck in the middle of nowhere during a thunderstorm was bad enough without being blind. She grabbed his free hand with hers.

"Lets go. This way." As she led him through the woods she felt an overwhelming sense of dread. It was almost pitch black and the only thing that allowed them to see where the sporadic bursts of lightning that illuminated the sky. An owl hooted above them and she could've sworn she saw a pair of yellow eyes watching them from the underbrush. She shivered. It was ominous.

Benjamin tensed beside her. "Someone's watching us," he whispered.

"I know," she whispered back. "Do you have any weapons?"

"Do you know how to use a sword?" She nodded.

"Yes," He let go of her hand and unsheathed his rapier. He handed it to her.

"Here," She took it. "Thanks." He placed his hand on the flank of her horse and let that guide him. She continued walking, holding the rapier out in front of her. Ready for action. She did not, however, expect their attacker to come from behind.

She heard Benjamin yell first. She heard him fall and whirled around, slipping on the mud. In order to steady herself, she dropped both the reins and the sword. Both their horses sprinted off into the darkness. Benjamin was on the ground, covered in mud. He groaned and rubbed his head. Where was the thing that had attacked him? She bent down to grab his sword.

She felt something cold and metal press up against her throat. Were they being robbed? "I was going to ask you to give me all your valuables but it seems that you don't have any. Pity, well, I can't leave any witnesses." They were most definitely being robbed. Well, they were going to be robbed. Now, they were going to die. What kind of person hangs out in the forest in the middle of a storm, waiting to rob unsuspecting travelers?

She sighed. (Turns out it was something she did all the time, not just when she was talking to Ben) "Do your worst, I suppose." Under normal circumstances, she would have tried to get out of this position by stomping on the man's foot or kneeing him in the groin. Expect, she had a knife to her throat. Trying something would not be a good idea. She sighed again. She was far too young but she had gotten herself into this mess. She signed one last time and resigned herself to her fate.

It was then that Benjamin lunged. The lunge distracted the bandit and he moved the knife away from her throat. Then she turned and kneed him in the groin. The bandit hollowed and waved his knife wildly. Angelica dove out of the way. Benjamin, however, could not see the knife and did not move out of the way.

He placed his hand in the middle of the bandits chest. The knife connected with Benjamin's shoulder. Angelica screamed. But not because Ben had been stabbed. Because the bandits brains were pulsing black. It started spreading from the middle of his chest, right where Benjamin had placed his hand. The bandit let out strangled half scream, half wtf! before falling to the ground.

Benjamin stumbled back, his shoulder bleeding. His eyes were solid black- like the pupil had swallowed the iris and the whites of his eyes. Angelica felt like she had lost the ability to speak.

"Angelica?" Benjamin turned to look at her. His eyes were back to normal. "What did I do?"

"You- you killed him."

"How?"

"I don't know."


	14. 13: REDACTED

**The contents of this chapter have been redacted by order of the ghost haunting my computer. (I'm 95% sure it's Hamilton- he seemed angry) **


	15. 14: In which we hear from everyone

**Warnings: This chapter contains knives, robbery, fire, a dog with boxers, fear, betrayal, and a lot of POV switching (apparently this has become a thing)**

Angelia decided to take initiative and loot the corpse. The corpse was that of a man, with russet hair and a ruddy complexion. He didn't look like a common thief. The knife (that was currently stuck in Benjamin's shoulder- Angelica had forgotten about that tiny, unimportant detail. That was sarcasm- in case you couldn't pick up on it.) was not the only weapon on him, he had several. Angelica took three of them and tucked them into her sleeves. She had seen soldiers do that- and it seemed effective. He had a half-empty vial of white powder with him as well (she assumed that was poison and did not touch it) along with a roll of twin that looked like it was made of human hair. She grimaced and threw that into the mud. Disgusting.

'Who was he?" she wondered aloud. She had not expected to receive an answer.

"His name was Cassius Smith. He's a farmer- that's his barn that you say in the wood. He used to have a family- a wife, a son, a daughter. But his son was killed in the war and his wife died while giving birth to his daughter. Her name is Elenor. His harvest wasn't so good this year and when it began to rain he realized that weary travelers may try and take shelter in his barn. He decided that robbing them would be a good way to make money… he needed to buy his daughter a birthday present. She's only five…" Angelica turned to stare at her traveling companion, who was curled up into a ball and slowly rocking back and forth. "He robbed another group before us- and all he managed to steal was a satchel. Nothing really valuable. But they all got away.

"He didn't pay much attention to their faces but they were two men and two women. The one man looked drunk- he was slumped over the women's shoulders. The shorter woman reminded him of his daughter- his daughter." He wailed that last word and just kept rocking. Angelica moved farther away from him.

"How do you know that?" He shook his head.

"His ghost. " Angelica shivered. Perhaps she should leave him right here- there was something terribly wrong with him. He needed to see a doctor. And she would have to take him there. She crouched down in the mud next to him, dirtying her skirts. She reached out to touch his shoulder, but he jerked away.

"Please don't touch me." She didn't want to. But how else would they manage to make it through the forest? She glanced at the mud on the edge of her skirts- mud wasn't supposed to red, was it? Then she remembered the stab wound.

"Oh my god!" She screamed. The knife was still in his shoulder. She reached for him, and yanked it out. A terrible decision, really.

Here's a word of advice- if you are ever fatally stabbed, do not pull out the knife (or really any object that did the stabbing.) It just makes you lose more blood. But Angelica wasn't really thinking and she most likely didn't know that- Ben, who would have known that since he was a soldier, could not see so had no idea that she was going to remove the knife.

Benjamin grunted in pain and covered the wound with his hand. The blood flow, which had been quite steady before, was now gushing and she jumped back away from Ben's life-juice and ripped her skirt. "Why would you pull out the knife?"

"I wasn't thinking!" So much for taking initiative. It was then Ben took off first his jacket, then his shirt. "What in god's name are you doing!" She screeched when he handed the shirt to her. Angelica did not like blood- at all.

"Tie it-" he hissed. "Like a bandage!" She did as he asked.

"Why did you have to go and get yourself stabbed?"

"Is this really the right time to be having this conversation? I'm sorry my eyesight prohibited me from seeing the knife. You could have said something. Like- hey this guy has a knife."

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to lunge at him!"

"I WASN'T EXPECTING TO LUNGE AT HIS EITHER!" His voice cracked on the word "either'. "I"M SORRY THAT A CAN"T CONTROL MY MAGIC DEATH FINGER!"

"Your magic _death finger_? What the heck is your magic death finger?"

"Perhaps I should use it on you," he glared at her. She scoffed.

"I'd like to see you try!" A moment of silence. "Why are we fighting again?"

"I don't know. Perhaps the blood loss is affecting my temper?" He swooned. "Perhaps it's affecting more than my temper…" He removed his hand from the wound, where he had been applying pressure. It was covered in blood. "Angelica, I think you'll need to carry me."

"What?"

"We need to get… to the barn… before I go into shock… and I can't walk…"

"I don't think I can carry you."

"You'll have to." And so she did. She carried him. Almost a mile. In the middle of the woods. During a thunderstorm. Whilst carrying all their stuff that didn't get carried away with the horses. How?

Because she is ANGELICA SCHULYER, AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE OF NATURE, GOD D MMIT!

* * *

There were _people _in Joseph's house. Well, new people. People who hadn't been in his house when he had gone to sleep (it felt so _weird _ to say that!) A girl, another girl, and a man. The one girl was currently holding hands with… with… Alastor? much to the dismay of… Justin? Nathan was sitting in the corner, quietly sobbing. The Frenchman had made himself scarce since the arrival of the man. A pity, since he was the only one Joseph really wanted to talk to. And the only was he wasn't talking to.

Ugh.

"Can you please tell- once more, I promise I'll remember this time-" he would not- "Who are you people?"

"Ummm," the two girls shared a look. The one holding Alastor's hand spoke. "We're Peggy and Eliza Schuyler? You've known us since I was 15?"

"And since I was 12?" He stared at them blankly.

"But which one of you is which?" Both Schuyler's sighed. "I'm sorry that the only one of you worth remembering is Angelica! You need to put yourself out there more!" Another sigh, this time from everyone living in the room. Ben's ex-boyfriend (were they ever really together?) was still sitting in the corner.

"I'm Eliza!" The one holding Alastor's hand said.

"Oh. Hello, Eliza. Are you and Alastor here courting?" Eliza dropped Alastor's hand like it was a hot coal.

"Uh, my name's Alexander." Oh. "And yes, we are courting."

"Alex…" Eliza hissed. Justin frowned. "We weren't supposed to tell anyone." Alex shrugged. "It's not official," she said, louder.

"You think that you'd tell your best friend before you entered a relationship with a girl." Justin glared at Alex.

"John, I'm sorry. I told Eliza I'd keep it underwraps-" Justin (who was apparently named John now) scoffed but said nothing else.

"_Accept your love for each other!" _Nathan screeched, pointing at John and Alex. "_Accept it before it's too late!" _

"Your screeching isn't helping anyone!" The man who came with the Schuylers whispered to the ghosts. Joseph raised an eyebrow. Apparently, he could see ghosts. Interesting. "Plus, they aren't in love."

"_Yes they are! It's glaringly obvious_!" He then stood up and stalked over to John. "_Kiss him.," _He whisper-screeched. "_Kiss Hamilton." _Then he turned back to the man. "_No one _cares _what _you _think- Witch Hunter!" _ And he left. So apparently, this was the one who had killed the Frenchman. Explained why he was making himself scarce.

"Well, no one cares what you think! You're dead!"

"Hercules, who are you talking to?" Oh. The man's name was Hercules. Hercules, like the greek hero. Imagine how disappointed he would be- to figure out that a man like that shared his namesake. "Who's dead?"

"Captain Hale, obviously," Joseph scoffed. Hercules stood.

"That was _Nathan Hale_?!" I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you how famous Nathan was back then. To the revolution, he was a martyr. You know, _My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country, _and all that jazz. Whether he actually said that or not is disputed. I choose to believe he did. You are allowed to believe what you want.

Hercules put his hands on his head. "Oh my god, he hates me!" Joseph shrugged.

"He has good taste." If anyone in the room had actually understood what was happening, they would have shouted "BUUUUUUUURRRRRRNNNNNN" at the top of their lungs. Disappointingly, Alex, John, Eliza, and Peggy were in the dark. But thankfully…

The Frenchman appeared at Joseph's shoulder. Jesus Christ- these ghosts were unnervingly stealthy. But… they were ghosts so it was to be expected. "Buuuurrrrrnnnn," he whispered. And then, he actually set the room on fire. The study filled with ghostly orange flames. The flames did not burn, they just produced a feeling of intense heat. Hercules's face fell. He could see them too. Judging by the lack of alarm on the others faces- they could not.

But apparently, they could feel it. "It's very hot in here- isn't it?" Alexander untied his neckcloth. Eliza nodded.

"It is. Perhaps we should go outside." John nodded in agreement, though he seemed to be reluctant to agree with Eliza. "Coming Pegs?" Peggy nodded as well. They turned to Hercules expectantly. The Witch Hunter shook his head.

"I'm going to stay here."

"Suit yourself." They left, leaving Joseph alone with Hercules, the Frenchman, and the flames. Can you say _tension? _They sat in silence for a moment, the only sounds were those of the flames and Emile barking excitedly. Joseph stood up.

"I'll let you work out your issues by yourself."

"No no no no no," The Frenchman shook his head. "Please stay. I would like you to… 'ow you say… mediate?" Joseph sighed. He was too young for this. He shouldn't have to mediate disputes until he was at least 50. Preferably never. He hadn't had kids for a reason.

"Witch Hunter, please state your reasoning and motive for killing Frenchman here."

"Lafayette," The Frenchman corrected. Joseph ignored him.

"Also, please explain your plan for resurrecting Frenchman and tell me where you're keeping his corpse because I don't want Annie to stumble upon it accidentally. She almost had a heart attack the first time and while she's gotten relatively used to it, we've decided that I now need to start keeping the bodies in the attic because of unannounced visitors like you lot." There was a long silence.

"What?" Witch Hunter asked.

"What?" Frenchman echoed.

"Are you whating the stuff about resurrection or the part about the bodies because-"

"Both." Joseph sighed.

"Well, which one do I need to explain first?"

"The resurrection." Frenchman said at the same time as Witch Hunter said, "The corpses."

"Well, Witch Hunter needs to explain resurrection to you and I could tell you about the corpses but then…" He inhaled sharply. "I'd need to delete you from existence."

"You mean kill us."

"But I'm already dead!"

"I didn't say "kill you"- I said "delete you from existence." They're very different." He stood up.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have to go find Frenchman's corpse."

* * *

Lafayette watched Joseph leave. The man was strange… very strange. He glanced at Hercules. Hercules opened his mouth as if to speak and he felt ghostly bile rising in his throat.

He

Couldn't

Do

This  
So he (did what any normal person would do, really) ran

* * *

Alexander was over the moon. Eliza was back. She was _alive. _Yes, they were in the company of a mad man and yes, he had been (kinda) cheating on her with John and now that (disappointingly) had to end. Because it was very hard to cheat on your girlfriend (?) when she was hovering over you. Not that Eliza hovered…

They were holding hands while John and Peggy looked on, awkwardly. Peggy was basically making heart eyes and Alex thought he heard her squeal "_I ship ittttt." _ whatever that meant. John was ignoring him. Typical.

(The disgruntled lovers club has gained a new member. John Laurens, please go see Nathan Hale for your acceptance booklet. Nathan Hale, please go see John Church for the acceptance booklet to give to John Laurens. Poor J.C. Angelica left him at the altar- errr dock?)

A dog yipped in the distance. Alexander could've sworn he was Emile running off into the woods, with a rope tied around her chest and a pair of drawers dangling in front of her nose. He blinked. Emile was still there. And there was nothing holding the drawers. Or the rope. He blinked again. What the heck?

"Alex, what are you looking at?" He turned to his female lover. (He felt the need to make that distinction.)

"Eliza, my dearest, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." She scoffed.

"I've had such a crazy day, I'd believe you even if you told me you saw a unicorn." So he told her. She laughed. "Alex, you're such a kidder."

Yeah. "I'd believe you". Right. She had told a number of crazy stories- including one about how they were held up by a rogue farmer in the middle of the woods! The absurdity. He looked over at John. The other man ignored his glance.

Great.

* * *

"C'mon Emile! Go go go go go!" The dog yipped happily and jumped in the air. Nathan stumbled and almost dropped Ben's drawers. It was taking all of his ghost-energy to hold Emile's leash and the drawers and he was beginning to tire. He needed to start exercising more.

Nathan did know if Emile had been trained to be a tracker-dog but he did know that he didn't have the time to find out. Nathan was done acting like he was permanently stuck in his teenage years (so many hormones- yikes) and it was time to be a man. After all he was 21. And he would be 21 for the rest of his existence. Well, that was a sobering thought.

He stopped running after Emile and sat down, filled with melancholy. The dog stopped too, and began to attempt to lick his face. (As Mr. Destler said before, ghosts were volatile. Kind of like teenagers.) "Nathan stop being so put upon." he told himself. "You have a mission." A mission. He fell back onto the ground with an angsty sigh and draped his arm over his eyes.

What was his mission? He needed to go find Ben. They needed to have a deep heart-to-heart. They needed closure. Maybe after that they could go their separate ways. Maybe they would stay and continue to be friends. Maybe they would acknowledge that they had missed an opportunity and while they regretted it, they could move on with their lives and be more than friends. Friends with romantic inclinations that they couldn't act upon because one party was dead. Or maybe they could act upon it even though one party was dead. Maybe…

Maybe he had to get up off the floor. So he did. "C'mon Emile." Nathan and Emile continued their trek- his adventurous spirit newly renewed. They continued (Nathan only stopped to wallow three times- only for about 10 minutes each time; a fact he was very proud of.) until Emile finally stopped. At a barn. Nathan began to doubt Emiles tracking abilities but opened the door nonetheless.

He was not prepared for what he saw. Emile began to bark. A woman appeared suddenly from the shadows, covered and blood and holding a knife. Nathan began to scream. Then he realized that the woman was Angelica and she couldn't see him.

"Who's there?" she said, her hand shaking. Since her hand was holding a knife, it was unnerving. Emile barked and scampered over to the woman. "Emile?" Angelica dropped the knife and bent down to pet the dog. "But how did you-" he noticed the leash. "What in the-" And the boxer. "Are those…" She stood back up and picked up the knife.

Nathan wished that there was some way that they could communicate. He wished that he had brought a pen and paper, or that Angelica could see ghosts. He sighed mournfully.

And then an idea struck him. The floor of the barn was muddy. Taking a deep breath, he began to write the dirt. He hadn't practiced his penmanship in a long time, so the message wasn't as neat as he wished it to be. It read:

_Hi Angelica! It's me- Nathan. I'm the ghost that Ben talks to. _But, as mentioned before, it was messy. So it was kind of hard to read. But Angelica seemed to have managed. (She had younger siblings- she'd seen worse. Much, much worse)

"Ghost?" he said softly. Nathan nodded, before carving _yes _into the dirt. Angelica exhaled heavily. "Oh thank god. I would hug you right now- if it was possible." Nathan smiled.

_I would accept the hug. Now, where's Ben? _Angelica frowned. Nathan felt his (non-existent) stomach drop. Something wasn't right. Angelica was taking too long to answer. And the blood-

"Tallmadge!" Angelica called. "Someone's here to see you!" Ben groaned his response. Nathan sighed in relief. The relief lasted only a moment though. Something was still most definitely wrong. Nathan vaulted over some hay bales over to where the groan had come from.

Ben was lying on the ground, half wrapped up in a blanket. His chest was bare, except of a makeshift bandage thoroughly soaked with blood. Nathan let out a strangled cry. He leaves this man alone for not even twenty-four hours…

"Ben," Nathan whispered. Ben opened his eyes.

"Angelica, how many times do I have to tell you to go away? All I want to do is, sleep- I've just been stabbed and uncovered some unknown well of death inside myself and I'd very much like to sleep. Can you give me that much?" He closed his eyes again. Nathan smiled. Ben was being snarky- that most definitely meant he was alright.

"Ben," Nathan said again, a little louder. Ben opened his eyes again.

"Angelica I swear-" He then noticed that Angelica was not the person he was talking to. They both looked at each other for a moment. And then-

"I'm sorry," they said at the same time. They laughed. Well, Nathan laughed. Ben tried to laugh but ended up spasming (Is that a word? I have consulted Google- yes, it is) with pain.

"Tallmadge-," he gestured to the destroyed shirt- trying to be too distracted by Ben's bare chest…. "_This _is why we can't have nice things." And with that comment, they were okay. For the moment.

* * *

"Your Excellency," Tench Tilghman was standing in front of George Washington, nervously delivering a report. That had been his job- ever since Hamilton, Laurens, Lafayette, and Tallmadge had left on their escapade. An escapade that should be over by now… at least for Laurens, Hamilton, Tallmadge, and that other Mulligan chap. Their directions were to deliver Lafayette to General Schuyler and then head back to camp. Those directions should be over by now. Unless…

They couldn't have been captured by the British, could they? The thought made Washington feel like throwing up. From the perspective of Major General George Washington, Commander and Chief of the Continental Army it would be terrible because of Tallmadge. Tallmadge was the head of intelligence. If the British managed to get their hands on him… it was too terrible to even think about.

But from the perspective of George Washington, just George Washington, the thought of Hamilton and Lafayette undergoing torture at the hands of the British made him skincrawl. He was impartial to Laurens and wouldn't total object to Tallmadge undergoing a little torture (maybe it would teach the boy not to question his superiors) but Hamilton and Lafayette were like sons to him.

"Ummm sir?" Tilghman's voice brought him back to reality.

"Yes?" Tilghman shifted from foot to foot and looked down at his papers.

"You may not want to hear this but…" He trailed off.

"What?"

"There's been rumors… around camp… about the other aides. The ones you sent on that mission. Hamilton and Laurens." Washington had not been very engrossed in Tench's report, but he certainly was now.

"What happened?"

"The rumors- and I want to point out that I don't believe- say that Hamilton, Laurens, Lafayette, Mulligan, and Tallmadge have… have…"

"Have what? What?"

"D-d-d-d," Died? Or the other "d" word? "Deserted." Yes, the other "d" word. Washington felt anger surge through his body.

"Who's been spreading these… rumors?" Tilghman looked very nervous.

"I don't know sir! But you have to admit… they're not that far-fetched." Washington was blinded by rage for a moment. How dare he! Washington was going to…

But then he thought about it. It _wasn't _that far-fetched. The boys had been restless of late… maybe Washington shouldn't have told Lafayette about his discovery. Maybe knowing that Washington knew he was a pyro had driven him to flee.

"Colonel Tilghman!" He stood up. The other man snapped to attention.

"Yes sir?"

"I want you to organize a search patrol. Find General Lafayette, Colonel Hamilton, Lieutenant Colonel Laurens, Mulligan, and Major Tallmadge- in that order!" Tilghman saluted.

"Yes Sir!"  
**Thank you for everyone who leaves reviews, favs, or follows. They all mean a lot. **


	16. 15: In which we move ahead in time

**Warnings: This chapter contains the discussion of murder, revenge, dumb decisions, mom's, and a gross joke. **

**...**

Three long weeks later…

It's a bit disconcerting, to be staring down at your dead body. It's also a bit disconcerting to see the person who killed you in the same room as your dead body. "Are you going to FINALLY get over yourself and allow me to do what I need to do?" Hercules snapped. Lafayette shrugged.

"It took me three weeks to get to the point where I can be in the same room as you. I don't think I'm ready for this yet."

"Trauma," Mr. Destler singsonged. "And I already said that I would do it."

"Well, I don't trust you."

"No one cares what you think, Witch Hunter. And since we're on the subject, I don't trust you either. You don't even have the twine."

"Yes I do."

"Then where is it?"

"I- I'll find it."

"Sure you will." The three of them were standing in Destler's basement lab, Lafayette's body laid out on the metal table in front of them. "And it's up to Frenchman. Frenchman, how badly do you want to come back to life. I've already laid out what resurrection by Necromancer entails. And it's far more painful for me than it is for you." Lafayette scoffed.

"Someone shouldn't have to die for me to come back to life."

"If it makes you feel better, I already said I'd kill the Witch Hunter."

"I never agreed to that!"

"Shut up, Witch Hunter. Are we going this or not?"

"I'm guessing no. Frenchman?" Lafayette remained silent. "That's a no."

"Great…" Just then, the door flew open.

"Have you guys figured out how to resurrect Laf yet?" Eliza asked, bounding down the stairs.

"We already know how to resurrect him, Eliza." Hercules sighed. "The problem is that _he _doesn't want to do it."

"An innocent person shouldn't have to die so I can come back!"

"You fight in a war! You kill innocent people everyday!" Eliza protested.

"Nice logic, Cat."

"Why do you call me "Cat"?"

"Because you are one."

"Killing in war is different," Lafayette justified. "It's organized." Eliza scoffed.

"Because _that _makes it alright."

"Also: Witch Hunter is far from innocent."

"Again, I never agreed to being killed."

"All you say that we should kill Hercules say "Aye". Aye."

"Aye."

"Eliza! Aren't you supposed to be the innocent one?" She shrugged.

"Okay, so it's two to two. Majority rules."

"We have no majority!"

"Actually, you don't count."

"Why?"

"You're personally invested-"

"You're talking about my life. Of course I'm personally invested."

"-so you're biased. Therefore, it's two to one. The aye's win."

"I don't think this was a very fair vote."

"Hammurabi's code says: "An eye for an eye'."

"We are not talking about eyes."

"It also says "A life for a life"."

"What even in Haummerabi's code? I think you're making this up."

"Then you get your twine."

"What?" Destler smiled.

"If you don't want us to kill you, go get your twine. We'll tie Lafayette down."

"I don't feel comfortable with this-" Lafayette was ignored.

"Fine." Hercules left.

"Good." Mr. Destler crossed his arms and relaxed. They were all silent. Hercules returned a moment later, empty-handed.

"Uh, I think I lost it."

"Well fu-"

"LANGUAGE!" Lafayette shouted, pointing at Eliza.

"Oh please…" The girl sighed.

"She can handle it. F*CK THIS." Destler turned to Hercules. "I guess you're going to have to die, Witch Hunter. " Lafayette watched all the blood leave Hercules's face. Then, he turned and fled up the stairs. This time it was Eliza's turn to swear.

"F*ck."

…

"It's nice to be back at camp, isn't it." Alex sighed contentedly, turning over in his bunk. "I still can't believe Eliza refused to come with us."

"It's not that nice, Alex." John sighed, less-content. Unlike Alex, he was unable to ignore the shackled binding his wrists together. "We're technically prisoners."

"We'll be fine," Alex assured him. "As soon as we explain our situation to the General."

"I think the General will be suspicious, since we came back without Lafayette, Mulligan, and Tallmadge." Alex shrugged.

"We just tell him the truth. Lafayette's dead, Hercules killed him, and Tallmadge defected." John sighed.

"I still can't believe that Hercules killed Lafayette."

"I know… it seems unreal. It's hard to think that he's actually dead." They both sat in silence for a moment, in honor of their dead friend.

"This is war, John. There will be casualties." John nodded.

"Apparently Tench is still out looking for them. Maybe he'll find the body. Laf deserved a proper burial."

"And Hercules deserves a proper hanging. So does Tallmadge."

"Tallmadge is probably dead already. Eaten by wild animals."

"What leads you to that conclusion?" John shrugged.

"He's blind." A knock sounded at the door. Before either of the men could reply, it opened.

"Hamilton, Laurens," The soldier at the door said. John didn't recognize him. "The General will see you now."

…

Hamilton and Laurens were well kempt, which was a surprise, since from what Washington had gathered, the two men had been on the lam for that last three weeks. They were safe and unharmed, something Washington was eternally grateful for. But Lafayette, Hercules and Tallmadge were still MIA, and Washington needed to get to the bottom of it. Which meant that he'd need to put his personal feelings aside. For now.

"What, the the fresh H*LL, have you been doing for three weeks?" Hamilton and Laurens shared a look. Perhaps the General was angrier than they had thought. "And WHERE are Lafayette, Mulligan, and Tallmadge?" Laurens and Hamilton shared a look again. The General would not be happy if they told him the truth. But they didn't know what else to say.

"Uh, it's a long story, Your Excellency."

"Well shorten it."

"The short story is…" Laurens glanced at Hamilton one more time and squeezed his eyes shut. "Lafayette's dead. Hercules killed him. Tallmadge killed Hercules. Then, Tallmadge defected." Slowly he opened them. The General was unresponsive. Hamilton looked confused.

_Why did you tell them that Tallmadge killed Hercules? _He mouthed. John didn't know. He supposed it was because it was simpler. The General might go easier on Tallmadge if he thought that he had left after killing the man who killed his friend. The General might not hunt down Hercules and Tench would be able to come back. And Laurens knew that Eliza wouldn't hesitate to kill Hercules herself.

Washington couldn't breathe. Lafayette was dead. _He was dead. _Dead. Dead dead dead dead dead. Dead. Dead. He couldn't do this right now, he couldn't mourn. He needed to get to the bottom of this. "_What." _ he hissed.

"He's dead. Hercules shot him. Then Tallmadge attacked Hercules and shot him, out of rage. Then he ran away. He defected." Washington inhaled.

"I want Tallmadge. And I want you to bring me to Lafayette's body."

"I'm sorry what?"

"I. Want. Tallmadge. Preferably alive."

"But why?"

"So we can hang him. He's still a murderer."

"But-"

"But what? Murder is murder. You are dismissed." They both opened their mouths to protest. Washington watched as they were ushered out of the room. He didn't allow himself to break until he was alone. His son was dead. And someone needed to pay. If he couldn't hang the man who had done it, he could hang the man that had robbed him of that privilege.

Yes… someone had to pay.

…

"This is all your fault, Angelica." Tallmadge hissed. His shackles rattled as he shifted to stick his head out the prisoner carriage window. He couldn't see much. Everything was blurry except for Nathan and his mother. But still, it was better than nothing.

"My darling boy," his mother sobbed, clutching the bard. "What has happened to you?" Ben clenched his fists and looked away.

"How so?" Angelica asked. Tallamadge rolled his eyes.

"What did I say about coming to Setauket?"

"You told me that it was your hometown and that coming here would be a bad idea because you'd be recognized."

"Yes. And what happened?" She sighed.

"I brought you to Setauket and you were recognized?"

"Ding-ding-ding."

"This is very bad," Nathan stated.  
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Are you talking to me?"

"No."

"Ah, the ghost."

"Yes." He paused. "This is very bad Angelica. I've been caught on British soil and plain clothes. And I'm a spymaster."

"I'll be tortured for information and then hung as a spy."

"Well, at least you managed to kill one of them with death magic before they caught us."

"True. I hadn't thought of that." He paused again. "So I'll probably be tortured, hung, and then burned as a witch."

"At least you'll be dead before the burning."

"Silver linings." Nathan piped up. "And another one-," he smirked and licked his lips. "We'll finally be able to actually be intimate without all the "oh but you're dead" moral bullsh*t." Ben gagged.

"Ew Nathan! Don't be gross!"

"I'm just trying to make you feel better."

"Who are you?" Mrs. Tallmadge screeched. "And why are you speaking to my son like that?" Ben ignored her.

"Is that your mother?" Nathan asked, pointing at her with his thumb. Ben nodded. "I think you should talk to her."

"I'll have plenty of time for that after I've been burned at the stake."

"Technically hung first," Angelica muttered. Ben flipped her off. "What do you think will happen to me?"

"You're a woman. They'll probably claim I've "corrupted you" and send you back to your husband."

"Fiance."

"Whatever."

"Well, what will they do when they find out I'm the daughter of General Phillip Schulyer?" Ben thought for a moment.

"Use you as a bargaining tool to lure your father in." Angelica grimaced.

"I'd almost rather be hung."

"No, you wouldn't." Nathan frowned. "Ick! I just thought of something else?"

"What?"

"You'll have to watch them burn your body!" Ben grimaced.

"Well, at least there's something to look forward to."

**Thank you to everyone who continues to read this story. I'd ****appreciate**** it if you could leave a review, telling me which characters you want to see more off and which one's you could care less about. (I won't take offense, I promise) It will help me structure this is a way that would be enjoyable for all of you to read. I will be wrapping up all the character arcs but it would help me realize which one's you want me to spend more time on. Thanks again. **


	17. 16: In which we have The End

**Hello, you beautiful people. I'm really sorry to be doing this, but I've decided to discontinue this story. This will be the final chapter. I've lost interest in the Hamilton characters. (i.e everyone except Ben and Nathan) and there story lines. So, while this will technically be finished, I will leave some plot-lines unresolved and you will have questions. Again, I am so so sorry. I feel genuinely awful. I hope you can forgive me for this awful, rushed, chaotic, mess of a chapter. **

**Warnings: This chapter contains real death, fake death, burning at the stake, ducks, a battle, cheesy cliches, Angelica sighing, and Resurrection. Really, just a normal chapter. **

You don't realize how much you missed something until you have it back. Lafayette stretch, reveling in the pure glory of being alive. He had been alive for about three weeks now and it was still shocking. Something that was strange, since he had been alive for much longer than he'd been dead. Based on what Mr. Destler and Hercules had told him, resurrection via necromancer required a body count. It was an exchange of life, a life for a life. The necromancer would be required to kill someone and then transfer their "life energy" to the person they wished to bring back. It was a messy process with a lot of variables. You needed the person you wanted to bring back's ghost right next to you, with their eyes closed so they couldn't see. It couldn't be raining or snowing. There needed to be wind. No one else was allowed to observe the process. Lafayette didn't know who's life had been sacrificed for him to live again, and honestly, he preferred not to think about it. Maybe that made him a bad person. Honestly, he didn't really care.

"You're fidgety," Eliza dead-panned, Peggy perched on her arm. Lafayette was still getting used to the shape-shifting sisters. The discovery had been made completely by accident, and the details of that accident don't need to be shared. It was embarrassing for everyone involved. Lafayette, Hercules, and the sister had been traveling together for about two weeks. (Mr. Destler gave Lafayette a week to get his bearings- then he kicked them out. Honestly, he had let them stay longer than expected.) During that time, they had developed a routine. Lafayette would ride in the front, Eliza would follow on her horse with Hercules bringing up the rear. The two men had made sure to stay as far away from each other as possible. Something that was hard for Lafayette, who still suffered from the 1700's equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome. Thankfully, Hercules had been sure to distance himself from the Frenchman, because Eliza had promised to kill him if he even set a toe out of line. Now that he knew that the woman was able to transform into a giant big cat, it became slightly more real.

"He's always fidgety," Hercules sighed. Lafayette glared at him. The glare was returned. Lafayette turned his face away, trying to hide his blush. When they returned to camp, he really needed to see the 1700's equivalent of a therapist. However, the longer they traveled, the less likely it seemed that it would happen. Washington had obviously moved to camp, but to where? That was the question. They had been sending Peggy out to scout, but that was less than helpful. The girl got herself caught in the euphoria of flying and grew distracted. Eliza referred to this phenomenon as "the bird-joy". Lafayette felt that it was a very apt description. Often, the party had to take long detours to find the distracted Peggy. It wasn't an ideal system, but it was better than nothing. At least they didn't have to search for firewood.

Currently, they were on the outskirts of a small town on the outskirts of Long Island. Bucket or something, Eliza had told them. She claimed to know the area. Lafayette didn't know why they would name a town Bucket. On their way to Bucket, they had passed the Schuyler Mansion. Lafayette assumed that they would be dropping the women off but both Eliza and Peggy insisted on staying. He had tried to argue but then he had remembered the giant scary cat with the large teeth. Needless to say, he shut his mouth. "I don't think we should go in," Hercules cautioned. "I don't trust small towns. Nothing good can come from a place where everyone knows everyone."

"It doesn't look that small," Eliza piped up. "Besides, I'm dying for an actual bed." She glanced at Lafayette. "Not literally, of course." Peggy squawked in agreement. No one really knew what she was agreeing to, but it was a very agreeable squawk. It was that agreeable squawk that made up their minds. Lafayette flicked his horse's reins and set off down the hill towards the town.

"If we're caught," Hercules hissed. "Laf and I will be hung as spies."

"He'll probably be hung as a pyromaniac first," Eliza shot back.

"Neither of you are helping. We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves- maybe get rid of the bird of your arm." As if on cue, Peggy flapped away, a bundle of clothes clutched in her talon. Lafayette didn't know where the clothes had come from, but there was a flash and a moment later, a fully clothed Peggy was running towards them. Lafayette cringed. What had he said about not drawing too much attention? However, if the townsfolk had noticed the flash, they didn't say anything. Bucket was a normal town. There was a church, a pub, some shops. It was surrounded by several farms and large manor houses. There were also several people walking around, an alarming amount of which were Lobsters. Lafayette felt the hair begin to rise on the back of his neck. He glanced back towards Hercules, who's eyes were fixed firmly on the ground. Out of sight, out of mind, apparently.

"Excuse me," One of the officers said, walking over to them. Lafayette slowed his horse to a stop. Eliza and Hercules followed suit. Lafayette mentally prepared himself for an onslaught of questions. However, the officer ignored Lafayette and walked straight over to Eliza. "Are you here to collect Mrs. Smith?"

"Pardon?"

"She said that she sent a letter to her sisters- and you look just like her-,"

"What's her first name?" The officer looked confused but didn't say anything. Eliza seemed to notice the confusion and added: "Smith is a very common last name." The officer nodded in agreement.

"That it is, Mrs. In fact, it's mine. Her name is Angelica." Lafayette shot Peggy a look. The youngest Schuyler sister shrugged. "She said her sisters would be Eliza and Peggy? She sent you a letter a few days ago- I'm surprised it arrived so quickly." Eliza shrugged.

"We live close by. Yes, I am here to pick up Angelica. Could you take us to her or do you want to bring her out?" Officer Smith glanced over at one of his friends.

"David! Do you want to bring the girl out?" David nodded at Smith and walked into the nearest building. A moment, later, he returned with Angelica. Lafayette gasped. Angelica looked… awful was too weak a word. Eliza and Peggy hopped off their horse and rushed to meet their sister. The two younger sisters were speaking animatedly, no doubt asking Angelica what had happened. Angelica placed a finger over her lips and shushed them. She said something to Officer Smith, he responded with a nod and pointed his finger over towards one of the large houses. Angelica thanked him and began to walk, with her sisters, back over to the horses.

"A farmer named Woodhull has offered to put us up in his Father's place. We can stay there for the night but have to be gone in the morning." Eliza crossed her arms.

"Don't you think you owe us an explanation first? As to how you found your way to this tiny, backwater town?" Angelica pursed her lips.

"I'll explain when we get there- it's not the kind of thing one wants to explain out in the open." It was then that Lafayette noticed something. Or rather, noticed the lack of something.

"Where's-" Angelica cut him off.

"All in due time. Can I ride on the back of your horse?" It took Lafayette a moment to realise that she was talking to him. Quickly, he nodded and she climbed onto the horse. He offered her his hand but he refused it.

"Not even a bit confused about how I'm suddenly alive again?" Angelica shrugged.

"I've seen too many strange things, I don't think it's possible to confuse me anymore. But, yes, I do have questions. I'm assuming that you'll answer those once I answer yours?"

"But of course,"

…

The door to their cage was unlocked and two soldiers entered the carriage. The first soldier entered the carriage and dragged her out of it by the wrists. There was a grunt from behind her and she watched as Ben landed spread-eagle on the ground, most likely pushed by the soldier. She cringed in solidarity. "Are you sure you want to do that?" Ben coughed. The soldier grabbed him the scruff of his shirt, very obviously avoiding his hands. Angelica didn't blame him. There was a crowd gathering around them, the soldier holding Angelica had to fight his way through.

"It appears that we're famous," she shouted at Ben. The man scowled in response.

"Shut your mouth, Bitch." He snapped on the last word. Angelica blinked at him. What was he doing? Had he thought that she was someone else? He had told her he had a bit of vision back, but it was still spotty. But wouldn't he have recognized her voice? The soldier holding her pushed open the door and dragged her into the bar. Perhaps it served as their make-shift interrogation chamber. The bar was practically empty, except for two other men and a woman. The soldier holding her forced her into the nearest chair. The same was done for Ben, except he was tied to his. She could tell that he recognized the men and the woman. He remained silent, however. Angelica opened her mouth to speak but Ben snapped at her (quite literally!) again. "I told you to be quiet."

"I'd suggest that you both be quiet," The oldest of the men said. "You're in a lot of trouble, Benjamin." Ben scoffed. "Anna, will you go get the lady here a drink? She looks like she needs it." The woman- Anna- left. She returned with a small glass of some amber liquid. Angelica raised the glass to her lips and was about to swallow when Ben snapped.

"Don't drink it." She looked at him. He glared at her. "Don't drink it." He snapped again. Angelica glared at him. Whatever was going on needed to stop. She raised the glass to her lips again and was about to drink when it was knocked from her hands by an unseen force. The glass crashed into the floor and shattered. The older man swore.

"Anna, clean it up," he sighed. Angelica frowned. That was her thing. "I don't know how you did that, Benjamin, but you're not fooling anyone. It's extremely obvious that your accomplice simply threw the glass."

"I did not-" Ben snapped. Angelica fell silent. Then something clicked. He was trying to save her. By pretending that she was under his control, she would be released of all responsibility. How very selfless and out of character. It must have been Nathan who had knocked the glass out of her hand. If you're going to pretend to be a witch, it might help to have a ghost on your side. He was relying on Angelica to play along- and play along she must, mustn't she?. He was definitely going to die after this was over, but she still had a chance. It was completely human to want to take that chance, yet she felt awful at the thought of leaving him. Yes, he was an ass-hole, but he was her ass-hole. He had grown on her, as a friend. She sighed internally. What would he have done, if it was her?

"You do, of course, realize how deep you've dug yourself, Benjamin? You're in enemy territory, in plain clothes. You could be hung as a spy. To make matters worse, we happen to know that you're the army's head of intelligence," The older man stood now, and began to pace. "I wonder how long it would take you to break- how long it would take for you to spill all the secrets you're privy to?" Angelica watched Benjamin tense. This was not going well. "And if that couldn't get any worse, you're a witch now?" He said the last part like he didn't believe it. Ben glanced at her quickly, to make sure she understood what they were doing. She nodded at him, discreet enough that the men couldn't see it but plain enough that Ben could. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, his palms facing up towards the sky.

"Release," he whispered. Angelica jolted and shivered. She blinked slowly, once, twice. This was going to be the performance of a lifetime.

"W-where am I?" The two men looked at each other, concerned. Ben opened his eyes and smiled his hard, cold smile. "Who are you?" She glanced at Ben. "Why is he here?"

'What do you mean? Can you not remember?" Angelica shook her head.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember is being out on a walk with my sisters, when a man- him," she pointed at Ben. "Approached us. He was bleeding from his shoulder. My sisters ran to go get help and I stayed with him. That's the last thing I remember before… everything goes dark."

"What's your name?"

"Angelica… Smith." It would be better not to make it too much of a lie. The first name was the same. "Angelica Smith. I live in Upstate New York with my sisters, Eliza and Peggy." The other man who hadn't spoken yet stood up and walked towards Ben. She watched her friend tense. The man whispered something to Ben, soft enough that neither Angelica nor the other man could hear. Ben nodded. He turned back to the man who had done most of the talking. The other man sighed.

"You can take him to the courthouse." The man nodded and began to untie Ben. They were gone a moment later.

"What's going on?" Angelica asked. The man moved the chair that Ben had been sitting on to the other side of the table and sat, so he was facing her. Anna was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you know that man's name?" Angelica frowned, as if he was trying to think.

"No, no I don't. Who is he? What has he done?" The man sighed.

"That man's name is Benjamin Tallmadge and he is a patriot, a spy, and a witch." She gasped, playing along.

"My god. He couldn't be worse if he was the devil… Is he why I can't remember anything?" She tried to sound panicked. "Did- did he use his magic on me?" The man nodded.

"I'm not sure but, I think so. The boy was always a bit of a rebel."

"You know him?" The man nodded.

"He was good friends with my son."

"Was?"

"Well, he's obviously not anymore!"

"Of course, of course. It was a silly question." There was an awkward silence. Angelica was sure that this man could see right through her lies. "I don't suppose you have any way to contact my sisters? I'm sure they must be worried."

"You could write a letter." Angelica nodded.  
"Yes, yes that would be nice. Thank you."

"I'll go get some paper," The man stood.

"Sir, what will happen to Benjamin?" He turned back to look at her.

"Why do you care?"

"I- uh- I want to make sure he gets the punishment he deserves." The man smiled at her.

"His father's interrogating him. After that we'll figure out what to do. But, Miss, I can assure you. Benjamin Tallmadge will not be leaving here alive." And he hadn't. As Angelica explained what had happened to her and Ben to Lafayette, Hercules, Eliza and Peggy she left out the part about Ben's death magic. She thought he deserved a little bit of privacy. She just told them that they had both been captured, Ben had pretended that he and kidnapped her and she was with him against her will. The man, Richard Woodhull, the man whose house they were staying in had believed her and she had given him a false name. She had sent a letter to Mr. Destler's house explaining her situation but it hadn't been necessary, as the four were already on their way. (In fact, Mr. Destler would still receive the letter, and would read it, before tearing it up and throwing it in the fireplace.) She took a sip of water before continuing her story, leaving off on the ominous statement of Richard Woodhull: "Benjamin Tallmadge will not be leaving here alive."

"So, where is he?" Hercules exclaimed. "Can we rescue him?"

"I'm getting to that," Angelica explained before launching back in her story…

"But how do we know that he's a witch?" The entire town had gathered to deliberate over the hanging/torture/burning of one Benjamin Tallmadge. So far, the town had decided on torture, probably followed by hanging. The family of the man Ben had killed didn't like that.

"'E killed me 'usband! I saw it with me very own eyes! 'E did it with 'is bare 'ands!"

"But the rest of us didn't see it." Angelica shifted uncomfortably. She didn't want to be here but Woodhull had insisted on her being present.

"I know how we can prove it!" One of the younger audience members stood up. He pushed through the crowd to stand in front of his fellow citizens. He cleared his throat. "How do we kill witches?"

"WE BURN 'EM!" A view of the rowdier (and probably drunk) members of the congregation shouted, a bit too enthusiastically.

"Right. And what else do we burn?" There was a lengthy pause.

"...shape shifters?" Angelica cringed.

"Besides shape shifters." Another lengthy pause. The man speaking sighed. "What do we use to burn the witches?"

"Fire!" The man made an expression like he was dying inside. Angelica almost felt for him.

"What do we use to start the fire?" Angelica finally spoke.

"Wood!"

"Yes! Yes! Wood!" Ben glared at her from the flagpole, in the center of town, to which he was chained. She flipped him off, discreetly. He went to flip her off, realized he couldn't and had Nathan do it for him. Angelica, however, couldn't see that. The man continued his speech. "So, if a witch burns when he's set on fire, that means he must be made…"

"OF WOOD!" The rowdy drunks shouted again. "But, uh," Only one of the rowdy drunks spoke this time. "How do we know if he's made of wood?"

"Build a bridge out of 'im!" The wife shouted.

"But can't you also make bridges out of stone?" The drunk retorted. There was another awkward silence.

"Does wood sink in water?" The man spoke again.

"No..no... IT FLOATS! YEAH, IT FLOATS! WE THROW HIM INTO THE RIVER!" There was a bout of angry cheering. A few men walked over to Ben and began to harass him. No one, however, seemed willing to touch him.

"No, no!" The man at the front seemed to calm everyone down. Woodhull was watching this play out with an amused expression. "What also floats in water?"

"Uh, bread? Apples?"

"Very small rocks?"

"Cherries!"

"A duck!" Woodhull finally added. The man turned to him.

"Yes," He turned back to the crowd. "So, in theory…"

"If he weighs the same as a duck… it means he floats...if he floats, he must be made of wood which means… HE'S A WITCH!" There was more angry cheering. A few soldiers walked over to Ben and untied him. Someone came running over with a duck. Two other soldiers began wheeling a very large, makeshift, pan balance into the middle of town. Angelica gawked. It was almost as if some outside force had been planning for this every since they watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail last-  
Ahem.

Angelica watched as Ben was dragged, kicking and screaming and swearing, over to the scale. She watched as the soldiers lifted him up and dropped him in there. She watched as they placed the duck in there, along with several other rocks. She watched as the scales shifted until they were even. The crowd erupted in angry cheers. Now unafraid, a few members of the crowd dragged Ben off the scale and onto the ground. They began to beat him, rather violently. They made eye contact and she watched the lights leave his eyes. Even when someone resigns themself to death, there's still something rather surprising when you it's most definitely going to happen. It wouldn't happen for a week yet, though.

It wasn't a nice execution, and Angelica decided to spare her friends the details. Ben deserved at least a bit of dignity. He had actually cried a little, as one of the soldiers lowered a match to the bonfire. It was humanizing, almost. His last words had been nice, though, and a bit jarring. They had been directed at Woodhull. Remember that time that the church caught on fire? I thought my father was inside. You told me no because the fire was dangerous. 'Burning is an unpleasant fate, Benjamin, reserved only the worst kind of criminals.' Did you ever think, Sir? Did you ever think… He had gone up like a Christmas Tree a moment later, leaving nothing behind but ash.

When she finished, she noticed that Peggy was crying. Eliza tapped her gently on the shoulder and she stopped. Lafayette was sitting there, looking shell shocked. Hercules was searching the room, like he was looking for something. "He's not here…" he muttered.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing." Suddenly, there was a thump from the other room. Angelica jumped to her feet.

"What was that?" No one spoke. She began to walk towards the door that the thump had sounded from. Carefully, he pushed the door open. She stifled a gasp. There was a cloaked figure, perched on the windowsill. He raised a finger to his lips. She smirked. Of course, of course. He pointed towards the desk, specifically an envelope on it. She walked over and picked it up before turning back to him. Thank you, she mouthed. Don't tell. He mouthed back before disappearing out the window. She opened the envelope. It was only 5 words, but an important 5.

The Army is at Yorktown. They would leave in the morning.

…

They couldn't take a boat to Virginia. That simply wouldn't be possible, apparently. What's the point of traveling with a bloody french aristocrat if you can't purchase a ship? They didn't even need a large ship- just one big enough to get five people from point A to point B. But… no. There was some issue. Hence they were traveling by carriage. If you have ever been on a long car trip, you have a bit of understanding of what it feels like to travel by carriage. Just multiply the time in your car by 8 and then add in the fact that there is no air conditioning or heating, and the fact that the roads are not well paved and carriage wheels are volatile. Feeling sorry for them yet? Lafayette is also notoriously motion-sick.

Oi. Now you understand the pure hell Eliza went through during the last fortnight. Or, perhaps if you don't understand it you can sympathize. Regardless, Eliza was grateful to finally be able to breathe fresh air again. That's what she was doing, taking deep breaths of pure, fresh, air. Angelica was still glancing back at the road. "For the last time, Ang," Peggy sighed. "No one's following us."

"I know that Pegs," Angelica said, still glancing back. Peggy sighed. "Liza, tell Ang that no one's following us."

"No one's following us," Eliza repeated. She just wanted to get moving. The men were in town, purchasing horses. It only took two to pull the carriage and none of them wanted to share, they had spent enough time in close proximity to each other, thank you very much. (Apparently, Lafayette had enough to buy 3 horses but not a boat? Eliza did not understand and, frankly, neither do I. These characters have a mind of their own sometimes, if you haven't figured that out yet.) They were about a day away from the place where the army was supposedly stationed, Eliza didn't quite trust Angelica's intelligence, and they had all decided that it would be much less glorific to enter camp in a carriage. In fact, Lafayette and Hercules were searching for white horses, specifically. (As if this story couldn't get any more cliche.) It was night time when the boys returned, dragging three brown-ugh-horses with them. They were laughing rowdily. Angelica sighed. They were drunk. Typical. Peggy voiced her inner monologue.

"Nothing heals wounds like a bottle of beer," Peggy deadpanned. "Even one's sustained during poisoning."

"Technically, being poisoned wouldn't leave any physical wounds," Angelica frowned, wrinkling her nose. "It would leave psychological wounds, though."

"Well, beer heals those too. Beer heals everything."

"No it doesn't!"

"Why are we arguing about this?" Eliza sighed. She glanced over towards the boys (They were more like boys, at this moment. Immature and stupid). "They're going to have the worst hangovers tomorrow." Angelica nodded.

"I wonder if they thought ahead enough to purchase coffee?"

"Laf doesn't drink coffee anymore," Peggy glowered at her sister. "Remember?"

"Of course," Angelica looked down and her feet. "Sorry." The two boys were currently trying to braid the horse's tails. It wasn't going well.

"Ohhhhh boy." Eliza shook her head. She glanced over at her sisters.

"Ohhhhhh boy," They chorused.

…

"We attack at midnight," Alexander whispered to the troops standing in front of him. Laurens adjusted his hat. "Laurens and I will be leading the charge." He was pacing, and looking very commanding while he did it. In that moment, Laurens had never been more in love. "You must unload your guns, we will attack with bayonets. We can not let a stray gunshot give us away." That had been partly Lafayette's idea. Laurens felt a strange twang in his chest. "We will fight up close- seize the moment and stay in it. It's either that or meet the business end to the bayonet. The code word is "Rochambeau" hear me?"

"Uhh, sir?" One of the privates spoke up. "There is no code word." Alex laughed dryly.

"Good, good. Just keeping you on your toes." Suddenly, there was a flash of light from across the field. The signal. It was time. Alex waved his men forward, jumping out of the trench they were sitting in. John followed, swallowing hard. He glanced to his left and froze, almost dropping his gun. There was a large black dog sitting in the middle of the battlefield. He blinked and it was gone. "Laurens!" Alex called. John jogged over to him to catch up. "Do you see them?" Laurens looked around, the dog was gone and he could just make out the silhouettes of his fellow patriots, sneaking towards the British camp.

"What?" Alex gritted his teeth.

"Look," John did look. And he felt his stomach drop. There were too many silhouettes- too many to be patriots. Because they weren't, he realized. They were redcoats. The British had known, they had known that the patriots were coming. Someone had snitched. It would be another 200 years before the phrase: "Loose lips sink ships" would be first used. Well, someone had sunk them. Alex and John's ship would sink.

In more ways than one.

…

They arrived at Yorktown expecting something far different from what they had got. Hercules seemed completely recovered from his alcoholic endeavor, but Lafayette appeared to still be feeling the after-effects. (Just a headache- he had been smart enough to refrain from becoming that drunk) Eliza was more excited than Peggy had seen her in years, she imagined that it had less to do with the thrill of a looming battle and more to do with the thrill of seeing her betrothed. A betrothed who's heart belonged to another. Peggy prided herself on her extreme intuition, it was hard to miss the sparks between Alexander and his friend-who-was-more-than-a-friend, Laurens. She was conflicted. She loved her sister and she loved that her sister loved Alexander. Did she think that they would be a good match? Depends, her sister had a backbone but whenever she was around Alexander she seemed to lose it. Alexander was too handsome, too flirtatious, too ambitious to be married to someone with no background. Alexander needed boundaries and he needed a spouse that would set them. However, neither Laurens nor Eliza seemed very good at setting boundaries. Laurens obviously knew about Hamilton's affair with Eliza, and well he may not have been fine with it, he needed to let it happen. Such was the way people like him needed to carry on. Peggy hated it. She loved kissing boys and couldn't believe that anyone should be denied that right. But, back to what they found at Yorktown. In one word: Chaos.

The battlefield was stained red, completely red. The ground was red. The soldiers were covered with red, to the point where it was impossible inside to tell who was who from a far. Peggy watched Lafayette's mouth drop to form a surprised 'O'. "Mon dieu," he whispered in french because mon dieu certainly doesn't mean anything in English.

"Well, you said something about glory," Angelica deadpanned. "Can't think of anything more glorious," (or cliche) "Then riding into the middle of a battlefield spitting flames." Lafayette glared at her.

"This is not the time for jokes." He paused. "Do you mean literal flames?"

"What do you think?" Peggy was not entirely sure about this. They seemed to be thinking about riding down the hill and into the middle of this deadly battle, Lafayette announcing his presence by using his power, the power that had gotten him killed she ought to mention. She did not like this plan because, unlike the rest of them, she did not want to die. Quickly, she hoped off her horse. Perhaps she could fly above the battlefield. She would be rather useless in real combat.

"I'll scout," she said quickly. Angelica glanced behind her one last time.

"I think I'll stay here, I'd be useless on the battlefield. It is a place for brawn, not brains." Her very pointed remark seemed to soar over everyone's head. Mostly because they were discussing fire. Rather, how Lafayette would wield it.

"We want it to be flashy, but not too obvious," Eliza said, putting a finger to her lips.

"Ooh!" Peggy exclaimed, rushing over. "Put the fire on your sword." They all looked at her, confused.

"Y'know, a flaming sword? Like the bible?"

"The bible holds no meaning here." A sentence that could very well get you executed. "But yes," Lafayette gripped the sword. "I think I know what you mean." A torrent of flames shot up into the air, and Peggy, Eliza, and Hercules jumped back, with a screech.

"WHAT THE HELL," They all thought, but only Hercules said it.

"Sorry," Lafayette murmured, waving his hand to dull the flames. It took a few tries (more than a few tries) and a lost eyebrow (Hercule's) before Lafayette finally got the width of the flames correct. It was an extremely deadly weapon, but just as beautiful. Lafayette handed the sword off to Peggy. "Hold this while I mount my horse?" As soon as Peggy took the blade, the flames went out. She swore, handing it back to Laf who had mounted. The flames sputtered back to life. Eliza followed suit, mounting her horse and holding out her arm, to which she had attached her falconer's glove. Peggy shifted, a flash of light and feeling of euphoria, before flying over to her sister and sinking her talons into the leather. Lafayette and Hercules were staring at them.

"I'll never get used to that," Hercules blinked. Eliza pointed at Laf's sword.

"I'll never get used to that." Lafayette glared at Hercules.

"I'll never get used to the fact that you killed me." Hercules frowned.

"I thought that was water under the bridge!"

"It's murder!" Peggy squawked, as if to say "I can't believe you guys are fighting at a time like this!" Eliza rolled her eyes and kicked her house forward.

"Let's go!"

Wait," Lafayette held out his arm. "Someone should give a pep talk. Hercules?"

"F*ck shit up but don't die."

"Inspirational," Angelica sighed. "But please, really, don't die." She glanced behind her again. "Or pretend to."

"What?"

"What?

"What did you mean by "pretend to"?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Shut up Eliza! It doesn't matter!" She rushed towards her sister, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Put, please, don't die." Eliza smiled at her.

"I won't!" Peggy squawked as if to say, "What about me?" Angelica stroked her head. Lafayette cleared his throat.

"Are you done?" They nodded. "Good." He cleared his throat again, and lifted his sword into the air. "Excelsior!" They charged down the hill. And not a moment too soon, Angelica noted turning back to the tree.

"Fuck these trees!" Someone shouted, falling out of the tree and onto the ground with a crunch. (A crunch of leaves, not bones.) A moment later, some else jumped out of the tree, landing a bit more gracefully.

"If you die again I swear to god-"

"It's not my fault! Why were we hiding in the tree in the first place!"

"Because it's discret!"

"Not when I'm falling out of it!"

"Well, it's not my fault you're a klutz!"

"Well it's not mine!" Angelica finally spoke.

"Actually it is," They both turned to look at her. The one who hadn't fallen out of the tree laughed.

"Angelica! Nice to see you again!" She crossed her arms.

"Hello, Benjamin." (I'd say plot twist but it's not- you were all expecting that, weren't you?)

…

"Sir!" There was a page Washington had never seen before at the entrance to his tent. The boy young, too young to be witnessing this poor excuse for a siege. How many men had died? Yet, despite that the boy wasn't frightened. He looked… excited.

"Yes?"

"You may want to see this, Sir," He said, guestering towards the entrance to the tent. Washington stood, and the boy scampered out of the tent. Washington followed. His mouth fell open. What the- There was no proper way to explain what Washington was seeing, No words. It would be better depicted as a scene in a movie, but I will do my best.

There was a falcon, soaring high above the field. Washington watched as it dive bombed one of the british soldiers, causing him to drop his weapon. The falcon was being controlled by a… girl? A girl with long black hair and trousers. No, that wasn't right. Women did not belong in the battlefield. The girl and her falcon were by far the least-weirdest thing on the battlefield. We all know by now (or you should know) that the dead can come back to life. Washington, however, did not. Key word being did. Because, unless, Alex and John were lying, the dead had. Because, Washington was watching the Marquis de Lafayette slice a man in half using a sword covered in fire.

He blinked. The women, the falcon, and Lafayette were still there. This was not a hallucination. He turned towards the boy. "What is this?" The boy simply shrugged.

"A miracle?"

…

Lafayette did not enjoy setting people on fire. Or, maybe he did. Maybe he would feel really bad about all of this later. He didn't know. He raised his hand and sent another torrent of fire in the direction of the advancing troops. There was a bout of screaming, but then everything fell silent. Peggy flew over and squawked in his ear, as if to say:

Well, Lafayette didn't know what she meant to say. But Peggy didn't just squawk for no reason. A moment later, Lafayette knew what she was squawking about. A wave of flame shot towards Lafayette. He looked up, confused. The british had a Pyromaniac?

…

Angelica, Ben, and Nathan were sitting on the hill munching on the 1700's equivalent of popcorn. Where they got the equivalent of popcorn is not important. "This isn't good," Angelica stated, pointed towards the two conflicting waves of flame. "The Brit's must have one too."

"Stupid Brits," Nathan muttered, chucking a piece of the equivalent of popcorn down towards the battle. Angelica sighed. She was surprisingly not-pissed at Ben for faking his death. Probably because he hadn't let her believe he was dead for too long. (Looking at you, Sherlock Holmes and Emily Prentiss.) Also because he had brought the equivalent of popcorn. (Ben had faked his death like this: Abraham Woodhull, A patriot spy, had "neglected" to tie Ben properly to the post. From there, it was a simple matter of trying not to die while you bide your time and wait for an opportunity to run for it. Ben had escaped with minor burns to his face, legs, and arms. They hurt, a lot, but at least he wasn't dead. And SPEAKING OF NOT BEING DEAD, the first things Ben had done after not dying was go to the library. It was hard to find reliable books about necromancy, but (somehow) Ben had managed to gather enough information about resurrection. You already know those details so I am not going to waste time explaining them to you. From there, it had been a simple (or not so simple) matter of having Nathan locate his grave (rather easy, he watched himself be buried), stealing two convicted murderers from the jail (A bit harder, the jail wasn't very heavily guarded. Ben needed two bodies because, according to the books he found, he needed one to reverse the process of decomposition and one to actually bring him back to life), digging up the grave, and performing a simple exchange of life. (I will spare you the grizzly details. In fact, I've spared you a lot of details because I'm sure none of you really care) In short, Nathan was alive again. And his name was no longer Nathan, it was Samuel Drisdale. Samuel. Drisdale. Past to the present)

"Is it bad that we're just sitting here," Angelica sighed, "Watching the suffering of others instead of doing something?" Ben shrugged.

"What could we do?"

"Well, you're both technically soldiers."

"Yes, legally dead soldiers. Can you imagine if Nathan just waltzed onto the battlefield like, "Hey y'all, I'm not dead!?"

"Yes, they'd kill me." Nathan piped up. "And then experiment on Ben for science. Or burn him at the stake."

"Not again, please." Angelica sighed. "I suppose you're right." She reached for the popcorn again. They continued to observe.

…

It had been a hard day, to say the least. A day that had become exponentially harder, Lafayette realized, sitting in Washington's office (?), the General staring at him so intently that Lafayette could practically see the lasers. Eliza shifted uncomfortably next to him, and Peggy squawked. Hercules had somehow managed to make himself scarce.

"I don't want to know what's been happening, do I?" Lafayette and Eliza shook their heads simultaneously. Washington sighed.

"The men are going to have lots of questions, you know." Eliza shrugged.

"We have ways of making people forget." Both men stared at her, oddly before Washington continued, ignoring her.

"They're going to be angry when we aren't able to offer any explanations."

"Tell zem it was a secret mission of zomething, I do not know." Lafayette's accent always became thicker when he was nervous. Washington sighed a very Angelica like sigh.

"You're both idiots."

"Oh, we know." Both Lafayette and Eliza replied. Washington chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad you're alive son," Lafayette nodded. He was too.

…

Our characters have spent this entire story dying. Some of them even started out dead. But, by the end, they weren't. Death was reversed and never permanent. Perhaps because your author enjoys killing off characters but doesn't have enough guts to actually let them stay dead. Or because none of them actually died in real life and they didn't want to kill them off here. Or they couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation for a guy who can bring back the dead not to bring back his "friend". Well, those of you who know history (or have seen the Disney+ recording) know that one of our beloved characters does actually die in the Revolution. Remember that comment I made about a sinking ship earlier? Ladies and Gentleman, may I present to you the Laurens Interlude.

…

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING SCENE CONTAINS GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF BLOOD AND DEATH. ALEX DOES NOT SEE GHOSTS SO IT APPEARS TO BE PERMANENT DEATH. SORRY. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

…

"John," Alex screamed. He watched as the bullet pierced Lauren's abdomen and he doubled over, falling onto the ground. Alex vaulted over the surrounding soldiers in order to reach his "friend".

"Al-ex-," John coughed, spurting blood.

"Shhh," Alex whimpered, bending down and pressing his hands over the wound. Maybe if he could stop the bleeding…

"Al-ex-," John coughed up more blood. "Don't… just… it's too-too late."

"No, no," Alex shook his head. They tell you to apply pressure to the wound, don't they? But where was the wound? There was so much blood.

"Alex, I'm- I'm going to die. I just want you to-"

"Stop saying that! You're going to be fine, you have to be," He was lying to himself. They both knew it. John was choking now, blood spilling out of his mouth and onto his chin. Alex wanted to wipe it away, but that would require removing his hands from the wound.

"I love you," John choked. His words were so garbled that Alex could barely understand. Yet, they were all he could hear. It was as if the surrounding battle had disappeared. "Be… be happy. Be with...Eliza." He closed his eyes.

"No! No!" Alex screamed, finally removing his hands. They were covered in blood, so much blood. "C'mon John, open your eyes. Open them!" He did. "Keep them open," Alex sobbed, clutching his hand. How do you make up for a lifetime of wrongs in less than a minute? How do you apologize for all the things you've done, big and small? Short answer, you don't. "I- I love you too." John's breath hitched like he was trying to say something. And then, it stopped. For good. Alex raised a shaking hand to John's face and closed his eyes. He left a smear of blood on his face. He used his sleeve to wipe it off.

Then, slowly, he stood. This was war, casualties were inevitable. He would grieve once the British were out of America. Because that's what they were, not the colonies, America. Alex looked down at his blood covered hands. Quickly, he smeared them of his face creating two horizontal lines right under his eyes. War paint. Because, this was war and casualties were inevitable.

"I love you too," John's ghost whispered before disappearing into the fray.

…

You know how the story goes from here. The American's win. Alex and Eliza marry. Lafayette goes back to France. Tallmadge eventually reveals that he is not dead but only after having a long conversation with Laurens about the ethics of bringing the dead back to life. (In short, "If I bring you back to life, you can't ever see anyone you love again because your friend Hamilton is 100% incapable of keeping his mouth shut") I supposed that this a very anti-climatic and disappointing ending, but your author just wants to get this chapter updated so they can move on with their life. (Not that writing this wasn't a blast, but more on that in the ending authors note) And honestly, what is life but anticlimactic and disappointing endings? I know you all have questions (What about the Witch Hunters? What about Anastasyia? What about Mullette? What about Alex and Eliza and Laurens? Why did you spend so much more time with Tallamadge and Angelica than you did with the title characters? Why is the title what it is? Why did you gloss over Ediians? What the hell was the point of making Tallmadge blind? Why won't you shut up about Tallmadge? How does Alex react to finding out about Eliza's edian-ness? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL OF LAURENS? (If I forgot any questions or your soul won't be able to rest until you get an answer, please, leave a review! I will try and respond!)) and explained all that at the beginning of this chapter. My parting words to you all: Never, under any circumstances, repeat what you have heard here to another living person. They will spend us both to the madhouse.  
**  
****Wow, it's done. I can't believe how incredibly supportive you have all been throughout this journey. You are all truly amazing, kind people you deserve the world. Writing this crack was awesome and hysterical (I especially enjoyed the burning of the witch scene which was heavily inspired by Monty Python) and I had so much fun. I loved to read your reviews. I laughed when you told me that I made you laugh and I cackled evilly when you expressed your displeasure at my killing off Lafayette. I hope I managed to make your days a little bit brighter and a little bit less terrible. You most certainly** **did that for me. Special shout outs to:**  
**HamiltonAsparagus for sticking with this from the beginning  
****Hitthepin for always having something positive and entertaining to say, also for being one of my first reviews**  
**MidnightBunny for writing such a long explanation of grief at Lafayette's death that it actually runs off the screen (It's nice to see that someone cares)**  
**And Ivystormrandomness for realizing the true brilliance of Inigo Montoya **  
**Also to everyone who followed/favorited!  
Fandomtrash988  
G.  
Kpippert  
MidnightBunny  
Missambiguity  
SirLancelotII  
VersatileGeek77  
WeirdoFanGirl4637  
Civilwarrose  
Yugiatembae  
Well, that was long. Sorry for the monster of a chapter. I guess there's nothing more to say. Except for this:  
_FINI_  
**


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